Schutz on Reducing Social Tensions

Abstract

Is the thinking of Alfred Schutz conservative? Is he a conservative because he urges value-neutral research, i.e., does he in effect support the status quo by not working to change it? To defend him, one might contend, positively, that theoretical knowledge is the best foundation for valuing and action and, negatively, that immediate ethical and political purposes distort theoretical efforts to lay such foundations. In that case, however, the question arises of whether Schutz ever gets beyond theory to practical application or at least urges doing so.

[W]e are worried citizens of the United States of 1955. deeply troubled by the many manifestations of discrimination, prejudices, and other social evils prevailing in our particular social environments, and we are looking for appropriate remedies.¹