Translating phenomenology: Alfred Schutz and his many afterlives in American sociology

Abstract

The impact of transnational influences in the making of postwar sociology in the United States is often acknowledged. However, phenomenology is rarely counted among these influences in spite of its apparently oversized impact on disciplinary development during a critical period of intellectual contention. This article sheds light on this process through an analysis of the impact and legacy of social phenomenologist and European intellectual migrant Alfred Schutz (1899–1959). After 1960, Schutz’s theoretical writings became a powerful resource for innovators and critics in the discipline. What is unexplained is the sudden rise to prominence of Schutzian phenomenology in theoretical and methodological debates in American sociology, and the way phenomenological insights became incorporated into the discipline. The article identifies three translational strategies employed by translator-agents in the incorporation of Schutzian phenomenology into American sociology. The article not only discusses the peculiar history of Schutz’s ideas, but also uses Schutz’s theoretical framework to develop the concept of translational work and demonstrate its relevance for the disciplinary assimilation of ideas across intellectual contexts.