Term of Art: Cognitive Sociology

“Cognitive Sociology: A version of ethnomethodology which examines the problematic nature of ‘meaning’ in everyday life, and seeks to integrate ethnomethodology with linguistics (deep structures), on the one hand, and traditional sociology (normative or surface rules) on the other. The major proponent is the American sociologist Aaron V. Cicourel, who has studied many apparently diverse phenomena—including crime, deafness, education, and research methods—in an attempt to identify the underlying social organization and ‘negotiated order’ of everyday life.”

Excerpted from: Marshall, Gordon, ed. Oxford Dictionary of Sociology. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.

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