Peter Berger and his sociocultural-phenomenological research

The phenomenological tradition in sociocultural research, traced from Husserl through Schütz to Luckmann and Berger, offers a humanizing complement to quantitative approaches by emphasizing subjectivity, biography, and historical context. Against the rising technocratic and neuro-turn trends that risk reducing philosophy to functional support for brain-machine interfaces, Peter Berger's sociocultural phenomenology provides a framework for describing the value-semantic world of society and culture. Berger's model includes four main provisions: secularization has a heterogeneous porous structure; transcendence is possible under capitalism as personal spiritual practice; pluralism and globalization support restrained forecasts; and the clash between bureaucracy and private life is resolved through daily meaning generation. His work turns everyday life into a scientific quest, enabling contextual correlation of different social worlds.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The phenomenological paradigm in sociocultural research is the relay race of Husserl — Schütz — Luckmann and Berger. Despite the first difference between sociology and phenomenology, the emphasis on design, biography, historical context, subjectivity and experience only complement quantitative research with the necessary quality of humanism. Today, when technocratic line is becoming a leading trend, when people talk about neuro-turnaround in science and social practices, phenomenology must be given credit for its courage in sociocultural subjectivity and the actualization of the philosophy of consciousness. Scientometric absorption of the subject is a dangerous way of deflation of philosophy, its reduction to the functional support of the brain-machine interface. The sociocultural phenomenologist Peter Berger (1929–2017) died a year after the demise of his and co-author Thomas Luckmann. Last year there was also jubilee of the founder of phenomenology, Edmund Husserl, who turned 160 years old. The scientometric absorption of the subject is a dangerous way of deflation of philosophy, its reduction to the functional support of the brain-machine interface. The study of the heritage of P. Berger in this regard allows us to proceed to the efficient processing of Husserl’s ideas in the field of describing the valuesemantic world of society and culture. The author proceeds with the study of the model of the socio-cultural and anthropological world, constructed by Peter Ludwig Berger. The subject of the research is the theoretical framework of the phenomenology of society and culture. The main provisions of Berger’s sociocultural phenomenology are: 1) secularization has a heterogeneous porous structure, 2) under capitalism, transcendence is possible as a personal spiritual practice; 3) pluralism of social orders and globalization are the basis for restrained forecasts regarding the society of the future; 4) the clash of bureaucracy and the private is removed by the daily routine of meaning generation. Pursuing issues of the privatization of religion, the theory of modernization, the sociology of knowledge, Berger’s sociocultural phenomenology turns everyday life into a fascinating scientific quest. He easily moves from concrete to abstract and vice versa, but does not throw the reader into the abyss of lifeless ideas. At the same time, the sociologist makes it clear that he is ready to change his mind, he does not close us in a rigid configuration of ideas, yet places the reader in the bootstrap reality. Berger remained in phenomenological position, describing social structures in terms of construction, typification, collective understanding, legitimization of social memory, horizons of reality, habitualization of meanings, reification of meanings, objectification of the lifeworld of utopias. Main conclusions. The sociocultural phenomenology of P. Berger allows you to value-correlate the sacrifices made by capitalism and communism to build a social order. His phenomenology is the method of contextual correlation of different social worlds — science and religion, secular and transcendental, personal and collective. Bergerian sociocultural subjectivism opposes the reduction of philosophy to the information support of a technogenic society and the maintenance of science.