theories
classic theories
contemporary theories
This chapter deals with classical social theories that describe our engagement with everyday life. In contrast to the efforts of grand theorists to explain great transformations in the social world, theorists of everyday life focus on the kind of things that we engage in on a daily basis. Theorists of everyday life investigate sociological aspects of phenomena such as thought and action, interpersonal relationships, and small group behavior. This chapter provides a review of the way that these ideas have been explored by Max Weber, Georg Simmel, George Herbert Mead, the early Symbolic Interactionists, Talcott Parsons, and Alfred Schutz.