A Review and Analysis of Eviatar Zerubavel’s Social Mindscapes: An Invitation to Cognitive Sociology

Abstract

Psychologists believe the human experience is the same throughout all cultures and societies. However, where psychology ends, Zerubavel's cognitive sociology steps in and further explains the actual disparity between all societies that psychology has failed to elaborate on. As there is a functionalist approach to division of labor, so is there a division of thought in modern society. These divisions are separated by perceiving (social optics), attending (the social gates of consciousness), classifying (the social division of the world), assigning meaning (social meanings), remembering (social memories), and reckoning time (standard time). In essence, according to Zurabavel, we are socialized into deterministic thinkers with no free will to think. We are left to only think what is socialized to be normal.