Sociological thought has been characterized throughout its history by a fundamental problem of grasping the reciprocal relationship between human agency and social structures. In the light of unsuccessful linking of agency to structure, contemporary understanding of sociological theory distinguishes between two types of one-sided sociological explanations, which advocate either the central role of human agency or macro-level patterns in explaining social phenomena. The undergraduate thesis juxtaposes sociological explanation of Émile Durkheim and Albert Schutz, as their positivist and phenomenological approaches to sociology are often depicted as opposing in the context of structure/agency dichotomy. First, we turn to their outline of sociological method, examine the application of their methodological principals to explaining social phenomena and conclude with summarizing their differences in conceptualizing social structure, human actors, and the role of social scientist.
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