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Peter L. Berger Quotes
1929–2017 United States
Peter Ludwig Berger (March 17, 1929 - June 27, 2017) was an Austrian-born American sociologist known for his work in the sociology of knowledge, the sociology of religion, study of modernization, and theoretical contributions to sociological theory. He is best known for his book, co-authored with Thomas Luckmann, The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge (New York, 1966), which is considered one of the most influential texts in the sociology of knowledge, and played a central role in the development of social constructionism.
United States Lutherans Sociologists Theologians Also known as: Peter Berger
Random Peter L. Berger quote
22 quotes
In science as in love a concentration on technique is quite likely to lead to impotence.
Invitation to Sociology (1963)
Like [John] Wesley, the sociologist will have to confess that his parish is the world.
Invitation to Sociology (1963)
Reality is socially constructed and that the sociology of knowledge must analyse the process in which this occurs.
and Thomas Luckmann (1966)
The game of sociology goes on in a spacious playground.
Invitation to Sociology (1963)
There are very few jokes about sociologists.
Invitation to Sociology (1963)
He who has the bigger stick has the better chance of imposing his definitions of reality.
We have as many lives as we have points of view.
Invitation to Sociology (1963)
At least within our own consciousness, the past is malleable and flexible, constantly changing as our recollection reinterprets and re-explains what has happened.
Invitation to Sociology (1963)
Social order is a human product, or more precisely, an ongoing human production.
The same processes that generate consensus can be manipulated by a social group worker in a summer camp in the Adirondacks and by a Communist brainwasher in a prison camp in China.
Invitation to Sociology (1963)
We are not interested in excommunicating anyone. The game of sociology goes on in a spacious playground. We are just describing a little more closely those we would like to tempt to join our game.
Invitation to Sociology (1963)
I shall admit frankly that, among the academic diversions available today, I consider sociology as a sort of 'royal game'.
Invitation to Sociology (1963)
Modern science is an extreme step in this development, and in the secularization and sophistication of universe-maintenance.
By ‘successful socialization’ we mean the establishment of a high degree of symmetry between objective and subjective reality.
Life-expectancies of lower-class and upper-class [vary] …society determines how long and in what manner the individual organism shall live…
The sensible person reads the sociological journals mainly for the book reviews and the obituaries, and goes to sociological meetings only if he is looking for a job or has other intrigues to carry on.
Invitation to Sociology (1963)
Compared to the reality of everyday life, other realities appear as finite provinces of meaning, enclaves within the paramount reality marked by circumscribed meanings and modes of experience.
Secularization theory is a term that was used in the fifties and sixties by a number of social scientists and historians. Basically, it had a very simple proposition. It could be stated in one sentence. Modernity inevitably produces a decline of religion.
Without proposing an evolutionary scheme for such types, it is safe to say that mythology represents the most archaic form of universe-maintenance, as indeed it represents the most archaic form of legitimation generally.
The basic contentions of the argument of this book are implicit in its title and sub-title, namely, that reality is socially constructed and that the sociology of knowledge must analyse the process in which this occurs.
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