ABSTRACT
This introductory chapter sketches a new approach in sociological theory and research that frames the contributions collected in this volume. Based on social constructivism, communicative constructivism approach has been developing mostly in the German-speaking world of the social sciences in the past decade. The basis of its social theory is the concept of communicative action, which is conceived as a triadic relationship between embodied subjects, performed by way of objectivations, which include not only language and signs but also any element that can be sensed. In this way, the corporeal, sensual, and material dimensions of reality are centrally addressed. As social actions are objectified, they can also be made subject to empirical studies, particularly of sociality in “real life” situations, through a broad range of empirical methods exemplified in this volume. By accounting for the role of relationality and subjectivity in the performance of communicative action, this approach navigates between the Scylla of postmodern theoretical arbitrariness and the Charybdis of an overly narrow understanding of sociality. The chapter briefly sketches the genesis of communicative constructivism and locates it within the larger field of social theory before providing an overview of the theoretical and empirical contributions collected in this volume.
