Visible meanings

Piotr Sztompka

pp. 233-245

in: Jeffrey C. Alexander, Dominik Bartmański, Bernhard Giesen (eds), Iconic power, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2012

Abstract

At least since the time of Max Weber, we have known that social life is meaningful. Typically we believe that meanings are deeply hidden, underlying empirical, observable reality and not directly perceivable. Some are hidden in human minds, as psychological meanings: motivations, intentions, reasons, aspirations, dreams. Other are hidden in social facts in the Durkheimian sense, as cultural meanings: values, rules, norms, ideologies, shared beliefs, creeds, utopias.

Cited authors

Weber Max