The system of relevances and enclaves

The system of thematic, interpretational and motivational relevance is the model expounded by Schutz to highlight how the constitution of meaning. The relationship between the system of relevance belonging to different finite provinces of meaning is fundamental. Just as important are the fluctuations in the modes of experiences, in relation to appresentational processes of meaning in the shift from one sphere to another. This paper will focus on the shift from one province of meaning to another, i.e., enclaves. According to Schutz, enclaves can be understood as both symbolic entities and necessary discontinuities in the shift from one finite province of meaning to another, discontinuities that can be identified as vacancies to be filled.

Alfred Schutz's conception of relevance and its significances for the social sciences

The conception of relevance has come to be increasingly under discussion in various scientific fields under the recent social-cultural-historical conditions of the globalization, digitalization, and liquidation of society. In my opinion, many of these various discussions are, explicitly or implicitly, founded on Alfred Schutz's ideas about relevance. This essay aims to clarify his sociological conception of relevance founded on phenomenological investigations by inquiries into what he said about the concept and problem of relevance through a comparison between Schutz's ideas on how to deal with the «incomprehensiveness» of the «totality» of the world with M. Weber's and F. von Hayek's with reference to Schutz's ideas as to how human experience proceeds

Relevance and cognitive style: on the double characterization of science in Alfred Schutz

This paper reveals Schutz's double characterization of science. First, he characterizes science as a modification of interest and relevance. This is compatible with his basic view of science as embedded in the life-world. Second, in contrast, he often excludes working and communication from his argument on science and characterizes science as a pure cogitation. By critically examining the distinction between scientific attitude and scientific activity as well as the concept of cognitive style, this paper concludes that the second characterization proposed by Schutz is untenable. In addition, this paper indicates that the second characterization experienced a significant change from On Multiple Realities to Symbol, Reality, and Society. Although Schutz has been challenged by contemporary science studies because of his ineffectiveness to deal with scientific activity, the careful and critical examination of his argument allows a positive interpretation of his theory as offering basic concepts for the investigation of scientific activity.

Introduction to the problem of relevance

The author's aim is to provide some key introductory points to the reading of the topic of relevance. First, it should be stressed that the system of relevance provides access to all the «places» of Schutz's analyses, from the world of life to the theory of action, whether they concern the methodological, theoretical or «applied theory» dimensions. Moreover, the system of relevance can be understood as the pivot on which the entire Schutz's interpretative paradigm rotates. The system of relevance contains, at various degrees of articulation, the mechanism of the construction-interpretation of experience based on the principle of the «selective character of the spirit». Although the system (and the process that concerns it) is always understood as unitary, it is distinguished, for heuristic reasons, in three sub-systems: thematic, interpretative, motivational. Each of these, in turn, is articulated dichotomously into imposed versus intrinsic or «voluntary» relevance. The system thus manages to fathom deeply the different traits of the constitutive of experience.

Relevance and time in Schutzian theory: methodological implications to interpretative biographical research

Together with the concept of lifeworld, the concept of relevance plays a central role in the sociology developed by Alfred Schutz. Both concepts are in some way connected to each other, as occurs with most of the concepts he deals with, it means, the exploration of one concept leads necessarily to another one, making the understanding of Schutz' work sometimes a complex task. The aim of this article is not so much to explore the concept of «relevance» in itself, but rather to scrutinize some implications of this idea for the sociological empirical investigation.

Life-World, relevance and power. Phenomenology and social critique

Does the phenomenological paradigm omit the examination of the problem of power? Frequently formulated criticisms of phenomenological thought underline that it would be characterized by oblivion of power. The following line of argument will demonstrate that phenomenology and phenomenologically oriented sociology do have the theoretical potential to open up a critical perspective as well as to analyze phenomena of power. The focus will be on the basic question on how the phenomenological perspective can be used to investigate power structures, social inequality, justice, violence, subjective and intersubjective experiences of alienation and suffering. In this sense some reflections will be presented on how phenomenological description is used as critical diagnosis. The paper deals on the one hand with criticism of the phenomenological paradigm of an alleged oblivion of power, and on the other hand it reflects upon the this paradigm'spotential of with respect to a formulation of social critique.

Topic relevance as the basic structuration of the field of consciousness

My aim is to depict Schutz's theory of topic relevance as his own distinctive phenomenology of consciousness. I will show that his conception of consciousness is elaborated from at least three types of elements. First, I will disclose Husserl's influence on Schutz in this matter. I will list a few Husserlian terms that Schutz takes into consideration such as noema, horizon, parts and wholes, attentional ray and passive synthesis. Second, I will show that Schutz turns to Gurwitsch's idea that consciousness is a field of experience where the previously listed elements are held together and find their relational meaning. Third, I will expose how all these elements taken from Husserl and Gurwitsch are reinterpreted by Schutz as being relative to relevance as a basic phenomenon of our mind's selective activity which puts at work different levels of our personality according to the schizophrenic ego hypothesis.

Schutzian social cartography

The aim of this paper is to explore an uncharted aspect of Schutzian description of the structure of the stock of knowledge. The linkage between the stock of knowledge and the life-world isexamined through the cartographic metaphor of the map. Starting from an analysis of different manuscripts, it is shown that the cartographic metaphor is the heuristic resource used by Alfred Schutz to depict the complex relationships between knowledge and life-world. It is argued that the allegorical reference to the use of maps expresses the conversion of our perception of the life-world into contour lines or hatchings, which corresponds to the phenomenological insight that objects are given in perception through manifesting sides or adumbrations. Moreover, it is stated that the metaphor of the relevance-isohypses helps Schutz to describe not only the structurization of our stock of knowledge into theme and horizon and the levels of familiarity and typicality we perceive in the objects of the world, but also the incomplete character of our knowledge, i.e., the shadows and hatchings sketched in it as a consequence of the opacity of the life-world. It is maintained that far from belonging solely to geography, the metaphor of the unknown world as a «terra incognita» suggests an inquiry into the process of production of knowledge. The cartographic blanks do not preclude the impossibility of knowledge, but, on the contrary, they constitute its original source.

Relevance and embodied reflexivity: constellations work between Gurwitsch, Merleau-Ponty and Garfinkel

This paper draws on Aron Gurwitsch's theory of relevance which was of outstanding importance for both Maurice Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology of the body and Harold Garfinkel's ethnomethodology. In the first part we discuss Gurwitsch's conception of relevance in contrast to Schutz'. We then develop a theory of embodied reflexivity drawing on Merleau-Ponty and Garfinkel together with some newer approaches on embodied practice and knowledge. In the second, empirical section we use the concepts and conceptions developed for the description and analysis of selected video recordings of systemic constellation sessions. Systemic constellation is a psychotherapeutic method which is used predominantly in psychological and pedagogical contexts as well as in management consultations. The basic assumption underlying constellations work is that the experiences of representatives are relevant for the person who has initiated the constellation and that they provide information about the issue at hand. The origin, validity, and reliability of the representatives' bodily and relational self-perception is difficult to assess and even more difficult to explain. In our contribution we propose a vocabulary with reference to Gurwitsch, Merleau-Ponty, and Garfinkel, that, as we think, allows for the description of the phenomenon and at the same time throws a light on how relevance can be understood from a sociological perspective inspired by phenomenology.