Volume 4, 2012
Andreas Göttlich
Pages 33-44
Imposed Relevance
On the Sociological Use of a Phenomenological Concept
The present paper discusses the concept of imposed relevance as developed by Alfred Schutz. Th e discussion acts on the assumption that within his writings
there are two different usages of the concept: a phenomenological one and a sociological one. The argument states that both usages may not be confused—a
failure which might be induced by the fact that Schutz himself never dwelled on their correlation. This being said, this paper presents some basic considerations
which try to utilize phenomenological reflections for sociological analyses, keeping in mind that the difference between them may not be blurred.