Social Life as improvisation

Pauline Peretz (1) , Olivier Pilmis (2) , Nadège Vezinat (3, 4)

1 CENA - Centre d'études nord-américaines
2 CSO - Centre de sociologie des organisations (Sciences Po, CNRS)
3 CEE - Centre d'études de l'emploi
4 REGARDS - Recherches en Économie Gestion AgroRessources Durabilité Santé- EA 6292

American sociologist Howard Becker stands out for his rejection of theory and his attachment to ethnographical observation of worlds in which he is himself an actor. One of his key lessons to sociologists is that they should ask “how” rather than “why”.

Keywords: Theory

Keywords: Ethnographical observation; Improvisation

Domains: Humanities and Social Sciences; Sociology

Pauline Peretz, Olivier Pilmis, Nadège Vezinat. Social Life as improvisation: Interview with Howard S. Becker. La vie des idées, 2011, pp.1 - 9. ⟨hal-01442234⟩