Cognitive sociology

Cognitive sociology is a sociological sub-discipline devoted to the study of the "conditions under which meaning is constituted through processes of reification." It does this by focusing on "the series of interpersonal processes that set up the conditions for phenomena to become “social objects,” which subsequently shape thinking and thought."{{Cite journal|last=Raphael|first=Michael W.|year=2017|title=Cognitive Sociology|journal=Oxford Bibliographies Online in Sociology|volume=187|doi=10.1093/obo/9780199756384-0187}} Thus, this research aims to sort out the social and cultural contingencies and consequences of human cognition. It has its roots in classical sociological theory, notably Durkheim and Weber, and from contemporary sociological theory, notably Goffman and Bourdieu.

Notable authors include but are not limited to, Eviatar Zerubavel, Aaron Cicourel, Barry Schwartz, Karen A. Cerulo, and Paul DiMaggio.{{cite journal|last1=Cerulo|first1=Karen|title=Cognitive Sociology|journal=Encyclopedia of Social Theory|date=2014|pages=108–112}}

The term 'cognitive sociology' was used already in 1974 by Cicourel.{{cite book|last1=Cicourel|first1=Aaron|title=Cognitive Sociology: Language and Meaning in Social Interaction|url=https://archive.org/details/cognitivesociolo0000cico|url-access=registration|date=1974|publisher=Free Press|location=New Tork}} However, in 1997 DiMaggio{{cite journal|last1=DiMaggio|first1=Paul|title=Culture and Cognition|journal=Annual Review of Sociology|date=1997|volume=23|issue=1|pages=263–287|doi=10.1146/annurev.soc.23.1.263 }} published what has been referred to as a now classic paper{{cite journal|last1=Cerulo|first1=Karen|title=Mining the Intersection of Cognitive Sociology and Neuroscience|journal=Poetics|date=2010|volume=38|issue=2|pages=115–132|doi=10.1016/j.poetic.2009.11.005}} of how cognitive sociology overlaps with the sociology of culture & cognition. Michael W. Raphael provides an overview of cognitive sociology in its current form.

Special journal issues on the topic of Cognitive Sociology has been published by the scientific journals Poetics{{cite journal|last1=Cerulo|first1=Karen|title=Brain, Mind and Cultural Sociology|journal=Poetics|date=2010|volume=38|issue=2}} and the European Journal of Social Theory{{cite journal|last1=Strydom|first1=Piet|title=Social Theory after the Cognitive Revolution|journal=European Journal of Social Theory|date=2007|volume=10|issue=3}} in 2010 and 2007 respectively.

Graduate-level courses in cognitive sociology has been organized at the University of Copenhagen by Jacob Strandell in 2014 and 2016 {{cite web|last1=University of Copenhagen|title=Cognitive Sociology: Self, Identity and Self-Esteem|url=http://kurser.ku.dk/course/asok05249u/2014-2015|access-date=10 November 2014}}{{Cite web|url=http://kurser.ku.dk/course/asok15210u/2015-2016|title=Culture-Cognition Interaction in Self- and Identity - 2015/2016|last=Universitet|first=Københavns|website=kurser.ku.dk|language=en|access-date=2018-02-10}}

In order to organize this interdisciplinary investigation, scholars have articulated five models of the actor that stress different locations of human cognition in relation to the social contract.{{Cite journal|last=Raphael|first=Michael W.|year=2015|title=On the Prospect of a Cognitive Sociology of Law: Recognizing the Inequality of Contract|url=http://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_studentpubs/25/|journal=Annual Meeting of the Mid-Atlantic Law and Society Association|via=CUNY Academic Works}} These models are:

1. Universal cognitivism stresses "naturalistic explanations of human behavior". This is reflected in the work of Stephen Park Turner,{{Cite book|title=Brains/practices/relativism: Social theory after cognitive science|last=Turner|first=Stephen P.|publisher=Univ. of Chicago Press|year=2002|location=Chicago}} Omar Lizardo{{Cite journal|last=Lizardo|first=Omar|s2cid=146835158|year=2012|title=The conceptual bases of metaphors of dirt and cleanliness in moral and non-moral reasoning|journal=Cognitive Linguistics|volume=23|issue=2|pages=367–393|doi=10.1515/cog-2012-0011|issn=1613-3641}} and Gabriel Ignatow.{{Cite journal|last=Ignatow|first=Gabriel|year=2009|title=Culture and Embodied Cognition: Moral Discourses in Internet Support Groups for Overeaters|jstor=40645819|journal=Social Forces|volume=88|issue=2|pages=643–669|doi=10.1353/sof.0.0262}}
2. Fuzzy universal cognitivism "emphasizes naturalism in the explanations, but its ontological positions are not as balanced as plural cognitivism". This is reflected in the work of Jürgen Habermas{{Cite journal|last=Strydom|first=Piet|year=2015|title=The latent cognitive sociology in Habermas: Extrapolated from Between Facts and Norms|journal=Philosophy & Social Criticism|language=en|volume=41|issue=3|pages=273–291|doi=10.1177/0191453714563877}} and Paul DiMaggio.
3. Plural cognitivism seeks to formulate a "balanced model of the actor subjected to socio-mental control. Socio-mental control describes how impersonal cognitive norms shape the thinking, learning, and courses of activity individual actors are able to undertake as a result of institutional reflexivity." Institutional reflexivity is a process described by Goffman in "The Arrangement between the Sexes".{{Cite journal|last=Goffman|first=Erving|year=1977|title=The Arrangement between the Sexes|jstor=656722|journal=Theory and Society|volume=4|issue=3|pages=301–331|doi=10.1007/bf00206983}} This is reflected in the work of Eviatar Zerubavel and his students.
4. Fuzzy individual cognitivism "emphasizes humanism in the explanations, but its ontological positions are not as balanced as plural cognitivism". This is reflected in the work of Luc Boltanski and Laurent Thévenot{{Cite journal|last1=Boltanski|first1=Luc|last2=Thévenot|first2=Laurent|year=2000|title=The reality of moral expectations: A sociology of situated judgement|journal=Philosophical Explorations|volume=3|issue=3|pages=208–231|doi=10.1080/13869790008523332|issn=1386-9795}} as well as Alban Bouvier.{{Cite journal|last=Bouvier|first=A.|year=2007|title=An Argumentativist Point of View in Cognitive Sociology|journal=European Journal of Social Theory|language=en|volume=10|issue=3|pages=465–480|doi=10.1177/1368431007080707}}
5. Individual cognitivism investigates the "inner determinants of action with respect to the practical, cognitive, and moral properties of social facts." This is reflected in the work of Raymond Boudon and Patrick Pharo.{{Cite journal|last=Pharo|first=P.|year=2007|title=How is Sociological Realism Possible?: Sociology after Cognitive Science|journal=European Journal of Social Theory|language=en|volume=10|issue=3|pages=481–496|doi=10.1177/1368431007080708}}