Phenomenology and Knowledge in Everyday Life

In this chapter, I discuss the main concerns of Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann’s (1966) book, The Social Construction of Reality , with a focus on how it can inform contemporary debates around the social psychology of knowledge in everyday life. I argue first that the flaws in Berger and Luckmann’s models of society and of persons undermine its status as a general sociological theory. Second, I argue that highlighting the intellectual inheritance of classical European phenomenology in The Social Construction of Reality , allows us to see many of its themes as in compatible with critical realism. I then explore Berger and Luckmann’s understanding of the activity of typification, and how it might augment explanations of the role of knowledge in everyday life, drawing on Margaret Archer’s interventions in this area.