Interaction and Everyday Life : Phenomenological and Ethnomethodological Essays in Honor of George Psathas

Phenomenological sociology and ethnomethodology have many adherents and practitioners throughout the world. The international character of interest in these two areas is exemplified by the scholars from Canada, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Switzerland, and the United States who contributed to this collection. Together they exemplify the kinds of theoretical and research issues that arise in seeking to explore the social world in ways that respect what Edmund Husserl referred to as “the original right” of all data. These chapters were inspired in various ways by the work of George Psathas, professor emeritus of Boston University, a renowned phenomenological sociologist and ethnomethodologist as well as a fundamental contributor to phenomenological sociology and ethnomethodology movements both in the United States and throughout the world. The collection consists of three parts: phenomenological sociology as an intellectual movement, phenomenological considerations, and ethnomethodological explorations, all areas to which Professor Psathas has made significant contributions. A phenomenological sociology movement in the US is examined as an intellectual movement in itself and as it is influenced by a leader’s participation as both scholar and teacher. Phenomenological sociology’s efficacy and potential are discussed in terms of a broad range of theoretical and empirical issues: methodology, similarities and differences between phenomenological sociology and ethnomethodology, embodied sociality, power, trust, friendship, face-to-face interaction, and interactions between children and adults. Theoretical articles addressing fundamental features of ethnomethodology, its development, and its relation to process-relational philosophy are balanced by empirical articles founded on authors’ original ethnomethodological research—activities of direction-giving and direction-following, accounts for organizational deviance, garden lessons, doing being friends, and the crafting of musical time. Through these chapters readers can come to understand the theoretical development of phenomenological sociology and ethnomethodology, appreciate their achievements and their promise, and find inspiration to pursue their own work in these areas. Phenomenological sociology and ethnomethodology have many adherents and practitioners throughout the world. The international character of interest in these two areas is exemplified by the papers in this book, which come from scholars in Canada, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Switzerland, and the United States. They exemplify the kinds of theoretical and research issues that arise in seeking to explore the social world in ways that respect what Edmund Husserl referred to as “the original right” of all data.The papers were inspired in various ways by the work of George Psathas, Professor Emeritus, Boston University, a renowned phenomenological sociologist and ethnomethodologist and a fundamental contributor to phenomenological sociology and ethnomethodology movements both in the United States and throughout the world. The collection consists of three parts: Phenomenology Sociology as an Intellectual Movement, Phenomenological Considerations, and Ethnomethodological Explorations, reflecting areas to which Professor Psathas has made significant contributions. A phenomenological sociology movement in the US is examined as an intellectual movement in itself and as it is influenced by a leader's participation both as scholar and as teacher. Phenomenological sociology's efficacy and potential are discussed in terms of a broad range of theoretical and empirical issues: methodology, similarities and differences between phenomenological sociology and ethnomethodology, embodied sociality, power, trust, friendship, face-to-face interaction, and interactions between children and adults.Theoretical articles addressing fundamental features of ethnomethodology, its development, and its relation to process-relational philosophy are balanced by empirical articles founded on authors'original ethnomethodological research—activities of direction-giving and direction-following, accounts for organizational deviance, garden lessons, doing being friends, and the crafting of musical time.Through these papers readers can come to understand the theoretical development of phenomenological sociology and ethnomethodology, appreciate their achievements and their promise, and find inspiration to pursue their own work in phenomenological sociology and ethnomethodology. Interaction and Everyday Life 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS 7 PREFACE 10 PART I. PHENOMENOLOGICAL SOCIOLOGY AS AN INTELLECTUAL MOVEMENT 12 Chapter 1. Phenomenological Sociology in the United States: The Developmental Process of an Intellectual Movement 13 Chapter 2. Experiencing a Phenomenological Teacher: A Reflection 32 Chapter 3. Revisiting Psathas: A Personal and Hermeneutic Reappraisal 37 PART II. PHENOMENOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS 46 Chapter 4. In the Beginning was Embodied Sociality: A Tribute to George Psathas’ Phenomenological Sociology 47 Chapter 5. Why Ethnomethodology Needs the Transcendental Ego 78 Chapter 6. A Problem in Alfred Schutz’s Methodology of the Cultural Sciences 93 Chapter 7. Where is Power? An Investigation into the Formation of Political Semantics 107 Chapter 8. Trust and the Dialectic of the Familiar and Unfamiliar within the Life-World 119 Chapter 9. Phenomenology and Sociology: Divergent Interpretations of a Complex Relationship 138 Chapter 10. Investigating Friendship: A Prospective Dispute between Protosociology and Phenomenological Sociology 156 Chapter 11. Face-to-Face Interaction, Kirogi Papa (Wild Goose Dad), and the Stranger: A Social-Phenomenological Study of Changing Intimacy in the Family 171 Chapter 12. Children as Interactional Partners for Adults 190 PART III. ETHNOMETHODOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS 205 Chapter 13. Classical Ethnomethodology, The Radical Program, and Conversation Analysis 206 Chapter 14. To the Activities Themselves: A Philosophical Interpretation of the Complexities of Experience 238 Chapter 15. The Intelligibility of Directions: The Psathas Corpus 249 Chapter 16. Collective Action, Collective Reaction: Inspecting Bad Apples in Accounts for Organizational Deviance and Discrimination 259 Chapter 17. Garden Lessons: Embodied Action and Joint Attention in Extended Sequences 276 Chapter 18. Doing “Being Friends” in Japanese Telephone Conversations 294 Chapter 19. From Phenomenology to Ethnomethodology: The Crafting of Musical Time 316 APPENDIX: George Psathas’ Books, Edited Volumes, Articles, and Book Reviews 334 Index 342 Notes on the Editors and Contributors 350