Human practices and the observability of the 'macrosocial'

Abstract

How are we to conceive of the relationship(s) between classical depictions of "macrosocial" phenomena and the empirically observable world of situated human practices and interactions? Sociologists since Weber have addressed this problem in a variety of ways, but persistent conceptual difficulties remain largely unresolved. In this discussion, the fundamental issue of the "observability" of the "macrosocial" will be the focus of analytical attention. In what ways do the putatively "macro" phenomena become instantiated in, and in other ways observable through, practical human actions and interactions? Are "macro" phenomena best construed as "containers" of local, human practices, perhaps exerting independent "effects" upon them? Or are "macro" phenomena brought to life by, and thus made occasionally relevant in and through, the practices of people in analyseable ways? In pursuing the latter possibility, some of the work of Harvey Sacks on membership categorization practices is found to be useful.