Webs of meaning

Theories and evidence from contemporary Ireland

Bibliographic Data

ID20386366
AuthorsTom Inglis (University College Dublin, corresponding author)
Year2018
Volume26
Issue3
Pages223-243
Publication date2018-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueIrish Journal of Sociology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0791-6035 • E-ISSN: 2050-5280
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0791603518792371
OpenAlexW2886804164
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited41

Meaning is basic to social life. Without it we are, as Bourdieu put it, like fish out water. And yet, within mainstream sociology, meaning is taken for granted. There are two questions. Is it important to try and get at meaning? And, if yes, how do we do so? In this article, I argue that we have progressed much theoretically from the debate that took place between Schutz and Parsons back in the 1960s. It is as if meaning and structures are opposite sides of the same coin but we either look at one side or the other: we cannot address them simultaneously. However, I argue that to do good sociology, it is necessary to try to marry what is going on in the actor with the way in which the actor is constituted within social structures. Given that we can only develop an approximate understanding of any actor and that we can only develop an approximate understanding of social structures, any attempt to link the two is necessarily tentative but, nevertheless, worthwhile

Epistemology · Mainstream · Political science · Sociology · Law · Management and Organizational Studies · Philosophy · Social and Cultural Dynamics · Social Capital and Networks

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