Chinese Journal of Sociology

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Concreteness and Abstractness in Social Life: A Brief Comment on the “ProcessEvent Analysis”

Li Huadou,Department of Sociology,Peking University     

  1. Li Huadou,Department of Sociology,Peking University  
  • Online:2011-03-21 Published:2011-03-21
  • Contact: Li Huadou,Department of Sociology,Peking University  E-mail:lihuadou@126.com
  • About author:Li Huadou,Department of Sociology,Peking University

Abstract:

Enthromethodology bases studying the strategicness and locality of action on recognizing the indexity in action, especially its abstract indexity. Thus, enthromethodology demonstrates its continuity from Parsons’ sociology. However, in later development, enthromethodology has gradually given up abstract indexity and gotten entrapped into individualism emphasizing the agency of the action taker in an isolated way. Complete social ontology should consider the two elements of abstract indexity and the agency in social action, and should also recognize abstract indexity as its basis. From this perspective, we can see the same drawback in the influential “processevent analysis” adopted by the academia in Mainland China, namely, its isolated way of studying action that has ignored the abstractness in sociality, thus substantially reducing its strategic explanatory power. This paper proposes that, through theoretical reviews and at the methodology level, sociological analysis of social abstractness can be categorized into four strategies, which can be further differentiated into demonstration strategies and explanatory strategies.

Key words: social ontology  ,  Ethnomethodology ,  indexity ,  abstract indexity ,  processevent analysis