stratificational model of social action and consciousness

stratificational model of social action and consciousness

an interpretation of the human social actor (e.g. GIDDENS 1984), which emphasizes the existence of three layers of cognition and motivation:
  1. DISCURSIVE CONSCIOUSNESS, i.e. what actors are able to say about social situations, including the conditions of their own action;
  2. practical consciousness, what actors know or believe about social situations, including the conditions of their own interaction, but are unable to express - i.e. tacit skills or PRACTICAL KNOWLEDGE (compare PRACTICAL REASONING);
  3. the UNCONSCIOUS.

The second of these areas of actors’ knowledgeability’ is seen by GIDDENS as neglected in sociological analysis, a neglect which, in Giddens’view, SCHUTZ'S SOCIAL PHENOMENOLOGY and ETHNOMETHODOLOGY have drawn attention to and done much to remedy