Table of Contents

Introduction: Is Society Something Big?

1. Interaction: How Presence Becomes Participation

2. Sequentiality: How Interaction is Structured as a Process

3. Institutions: What We Take for Granted in Social Action

4. Reciprocity: How Social Relations Emerge from Joint Action

5. Taking the Perspective of Others: Who We Are as Far as Others are Concerned

6. Social Roles: What We Are to Each Other

7. Norms and Rules: How We Measure Social Action

8. Framing: How We Know What We Have to Do

9. Typification: How We Know Who We are Dealing With

10. Structural Problems of Action: How We Adjust to the Circumstances

11. Emotions: How Feelings Become Part of Social Action

12. Practice or The Pressure to Act

Epilogue: Structure and Method

About the Author

Kai-Olaf Maiwald is Professor of Microsociology and Qualitative Methods at the University of Osnabrück, Germany.

Inken Suerig is Scientific Assistant for Microsociology and Qualitative Methods at the University of Osnabrück, Germany.

Reviews

"The grand trends of global history become real, Maiwald and Suerig argue, only to the extent that they become palpable to real people in real places. Microsociology is the study of how a large entity – like society – comes down to what the authors call specific ‘structures of interaction.’ Drawing on a wide range of key thinkers, this beautifully written and superbly organized volume invites the reader into what may become a new way of thinking. An excellent introduction to microsociology." - Arlie Russell Hochschild, University of California, Berkeley, USA, author of The Managed Heart and Strangers in Their Own Land.

"The grand trends of global history become real, Maiwald and Suerig argue, only to the extent that they become palpable to real people in real places. Microsociology is the study of how a large entity – like society – comes down to what the authors call specific ‘structures of interaction.’ Drawing on a wide range of key thinkers, this beautifully written and superbly organized volume invites the reader into what may become a new way of thinking. An excellent introduction to microsociology." – Arlie Russell Hochschild, University of California, Berkeley, USA, author of The Managed Heart and Strangers in Their Own Land.