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Sociology Meets Biography: Peter Berger and the Social Construction of Discontinuous Selves

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Abstract

This article examines the idea of a “sociology of biography.” As such, it focuses on the social construction of both biographical continuity and biographical discontinuity. It explores in particular the contribution of Harold Garfinkel to the study of biographical continuity and Peter Berger to the study of biographical discontinuity.

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Notes

  1. See also Simmel 1898 on the mental “persistence” of social groups.

  2. See also Silver 1996.

  3. See also Linde 1993: 151–62.

  4. On such analogical transfers, see Zerubavel, in preparation.

Further Reading

  • Berger, P. L. 1963. Invitation to sociology: A humanistic perspective. Garden City:Doubleday Anchor.

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  • Berger, P. L., & Luckmann, T. 1966. The social construction of reality: A treatise in the sociology of knowledge. Garden City:Doubleday.

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  • DeGloma, T. 2014. Seeing the light: The social logic of personal discovery. Chicago:University of Chicago Press.

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  • Garfinkel, H. 1967. Studies in ethnomethodology. Englewood Cliffs:Prentice-Hall.

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  • Hume, David. [1739] 1874. A treatise on human nature. London: Longmans, Green, & Co.

  • Linde, C. 1993. Life stories: The creation of coherence. New York:Oxford University Press.

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  • Silver, I. 1996. Role transitions, objects, and identity. Symbolic Interaction, 19(1), 1–20.

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  • Simmel, G. 1898. The persistence of social groups. American Journal of Sociology, 3, 662–698.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zerubavel, E. 1998. Language and memory: ‘Pre-Columbian’ America and the social logic of periodization. Social Research, 65, 315–330.

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  • Zerubavel, E. 2003. Time maps: Collective memory and the social shape of the past. Chicago:University of Chicago Press.

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  • Zerubavel, E. 2016. The five pillars of essentialism: Reification and the social construction of an objective reality. Cultural Sociology, 10, 69–76.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zerubavel, Eviatar. In preparation. Generally Speaking: An Invitation to Concept-Driven Sociology.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, Rutgers University, 131 Davison Hall, 26 Nichol Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ, 08901, USA

    Eviatar Zerubavel

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  1. Eviatar Zerubavel
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Correspondence to Eviatar Zerubavel.

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Zerubavel, E. Sociology Meets Biography: Peter Berger and the Social Construction of Discontinuous Selves. Soc 57, 94–96 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12115-019-00445-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12115-019-00445-7

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