Interpretive sociology in comparative perspective: paradigms and prospects.

Two central questions are explored in this paper. First, what are the essentially American elements of American interpretive sociology as an intellectual discipline or set of related disciplines and second, at what points has American interpretive sociology borrowed significant elements from European traditions to redirect and revitalize its basic paradigms. These questions are addressed by using an approach to the sociology of knowledge that assesses the dominant features of selected disciplinary paradigms and discourse styles with particular attention to periods of crisis or change. In its concern with meaning and consciousness, interpretive sociology has historically drawn upon European currents of thought. With recent developments in the sociology of everyday life and semiotic studies, interpretive sociology has taken on new dimensions.