Cognitive sociology

Cognitive sociology is a sociological sub-discipline devoted to the study of the "conditions under which meaning is constituted through processes of reification." It does this by focusing on "the series of interpersonal processes that set up the conditions for phenomena to become “social objects,” which subsequently shape thinking and thought." Thus, this research aims to sort out the social and cultural contingencies and consequences of human cognition. It has its roots in classical sociological theory, notably Durkheim and Weber, and from contemporary sociological theory, notably Goffman and Bourdieu.

Notable authors include but are not limited to, Eviatar Zerubavel, Aaron Cicourel, Barry Schwartz, Karen A. Cerulo and Paul DiMaggio.

The term 'cognitive sociology' was used already in 1974 by Cicourel. However, in 1997 DiMaggio published what has been referred to as a now classic paper of Cognitive Sociology in its current form.

Special journal issues on the topic of Cognitive Sociology has been published by the scientific journals Poetics and the European Journal of Social Theory in 2010 and 2007 respectively.

Graduate-level courses in cognitive sociology has been organized at the University of Copenhagen by Jacob Strandell in 2014 and 2016

In order to organize this interdisciplinary investigation, scholars have articulated five models of the actor that stress different locations of human cognition in relation to the social contract. These models are:

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