Liu Yu Chen's Ethnomethodology Reconsidered
Current Sociology 60(5) 581– 598 © The Author(s) 2012 Reprints and permission: sagepub. co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0011392111426193 csi.sagepub.com CS Ethnomethodology reconsidered: The practical logic of social systems theory Liu Yu Cheng National Chengchi University, Taiwan Abstract This article compares ethnomethodology to social systems theory and attempts to clarify their theoretical concerns, differences and similarities when synthetically considering the former as a practical logic of the latter. As two poles on a continuum of research methods, ethnomethodology is a microanalysis of social order and human agency, whereas systems theory assumes a macro and theoretical abstraction of system formation and social evolution. When attempts are made to solve the problems of the micro/macro, part/whole, or individual/society relation, this comparison is conducive to elucidating how the practical logic is implied on both micro ...