Toward a Sociology of the Person

Dados Bibliográficos

ID2247241
AutoresSpencer E Cahill (University of South Florida, autor correspondente)
Ano1998
Volume16
Fascículo2
Páginas131-148
Data de publicação1998-07-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoSociological Theory (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0735-2751 • E-ISSN: 1467-9558
EditoraSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1111/0735-2751.00047
OpenAlexW1985599191
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas62
Referências citadas36

This paper proposes a sociology of the person that focuses upon the socially defined, publicly visible beings of intersubjective experience. I argue that the sociology of the person proposed by Durkheim and Mauss is more accurately described as a sociology of institutions of the person and neglects both folk or ethnopsychologies of personhood and the interactional production of persons. I draw upon the work of Goffman to develop a sociology of the person concerned with means, processes, and relations of person production. I also propose that the work of Goffman, Foucault, and others provides insights into the contemporary technology of person production and into how its control and use affects relations of person production. I conclude with a brief outline of the theoretical connections among institutions of the person, folk psychologies, the social constitution of the person, and the prospect of a distinctively sociological psychology

First person · Personhood · Social geometry · Sociology of culture · Sociology of knowledge · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Social Power and Status Dynamics · Social Representations and Identity