Document Type
Article
Publication Date
Fall 1978
Publication Title
Humboldt Journal of Social Relations
Volume
6
Issue
1
First page number:
3
Last page number:
38
Abstract
This paper presents an historical outlook on the macro-micro distinction in modern sociology. It links the genesis of social interactionism and microsociology to the rise of Romantic philosophy and attempts to elaborate methodological principles dividing macro- and microscopic perspectives in sociology. Six ideal-typical distinctions are considered: natural vs. social universality, emergent properties vs. emergent processes, morphological structuralism vs. genetical interactionism, choice among socially structured alternatives vs. structuring appearance into reality, structural vs. emergent directionality, operational vs. hermeneutical analysis. The complementarity of the languages of macro- and microsociological theories is advocated as a foundation for the further elaboration of conceptual links between the two levels of analysis.
Keywords
Hermeneutics; Macrosociology--Methodology; Microsociology; Sociology; Sociology--Research--Methodology
Disciplines
Quantitative, Qualitative, Comparative, and Historical Methodologies | Social Psychology and Interaction | Sociology
Language
English
Repository Citation
Shalin, D. N.
(1978).
The Genesis of Social Interactionism and Differentiation of Macro- and Microsociological Paradigms.
Humboldt Journal of Social Relations, 6(1),
3-38.
https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/sociology_pubs/57
Included in
Quantitative, Qualitative, Comparative, and Historical Methodologies Commons, Social Psychology and Interaction Commons