Translating phenomenology: Alfred Schutz and his many afterlives in American sociology.

This article examines the transnational incorporation and impact of Alfred Schutz's social phenomenology on postwar American sociology, focusing on how Schutz's ideas gained prominence after 1960 despite his marginal status during his lifetime. It identifies three translational strategies—conceptual appropriation, theoretic integration, and radical difference—employed by interpreter-agents to adapt Schutzian phenomenology within American sociological debates, exemplified respectively by ethnomethodology, social constructionism, and phenomenological/existential sociology. The article highlights how these strategies transformed Schutz's original theoretical framework to address prevailing intellectual concerns, resulting in diverse and sometimes conflicting appropriations that shaped his disciplinary legacy. It further argues that Schutz's work served as a critical resource in challenging dominant positivist and functionalist paradigms, though his complex epistemological positions were often simplified or contested in the process of assimilation. Overall, the study contributes to understanding the role of translational work in the cross-cultural transmission and institutionalization of sociological ideas.