Mead, Contemporary Metatheory, and Twenty-First-Century Interdisciplinary Team Work

Abstract

George Herbert Mead is reintroduced here as an exemplary practice-minded scholar. His work at Hull-House inspired practitioners to interpret and advocate for the poor and oppressed. Mead pioneered an approach to cross-cultural boundary work that was used to help clients interpret their experiences, to mediate between clients and social institutions, and to represent clients' needs to a nonsympathetic middle class. Contemporary sociological practice occurs in a fragmented, divisive society reminiscent of late nineteenth-century Chicago. Mead's notions of “universe of discourse,” “international mindedness,” and “the democratic assumption” are wedded to those of metatheorists and developed as a “metatheory for use.” Four metatheoretical tools—translation by membership focus, by metaphor, by map, and by model—are recommended to sociologists committed to interdisciplinary, multitheory service.