Introduction

Hermeneutical theory attempts a solution to the problem of how meaning can be understood objectively – or, as Schleiermacher put it, how to avoid misunderstanding. Weber's theory of action grappled with the problem, ultimately left unanswered by Dilthey, of how to render accounts of subjective meaning provided by the human or cultural sciences objective. Following on Weber, but inverting the relationship between the theory of action and objectivations of human activity, Parsons tried to reduce intentional meaning to the objective context of social systems. Phenomenological sociology and ethnomethodology developed the insight that both the 'object' of sociology and its investigation are characterized by their directedness at meaning-complexes. As 'interpretative sociology' these approaches provide an alternative to, as well as a critique of, scientistic accounts of social phenomena that treat of them as if they were natural objects that could be investigated through the use of largely quantitative means alone.