Domain of relevance
From Geography
Every person receives loads of information each day. We try to sort this information, and build up a stock of knowledge which is used to categorize the (social) world. Especially social information is important for us to save, so that we can rely on our social knowledge in future situations. (And so we can construct ideas about poeple, about various situations and about the social world.) Alfred Schütz calls this a process of categorization typification.
According to Schütz information gets to us in two ways: certain things (facts) can be – and must be - taken for granted, and certain typifications are selected out as relevant to the individual's interests. So according to Schütz, an individual sorts out this everyday world into domains of relevance (demarcated areas in the brain with essential information). The primary domain is build up of immediate facts and events the individual perceives. This is the only domain of which the individual requires detailed knowledge.
Example
A person defines the information of situation A where he is in (and thus he orientates himself in situation A). He may set himself to alter situation A by action. In other words, the individual anticipates the possible ways his mind sees for situation A. The individual imagines or fantasizes kinds of possibilities or solutions for situation A, which leads to a plan of action. Schütz calls this rational activity, because the person tries to personalize and optimize situation A. This is the 'motivated lived experience' that represents the heart of the subjective awareness, according to Schütz.
References
- Campbell, T. (1981) Seven theories of Human Society. Clarendon Press, Oxford203-204 (page 203)
Contributions
- Page created: Kamiel Nuyens - September 21st 2012
- Text enhanced by Kamiel Nuyens - September 21st 2012
- Page edited by --HuubVanDerZwaluw - 13:30, September 22nd 2012 (CEST)
- Page enhanced by Iris van der Wal - 11:29, October 25th 2012
