George Psathas (B.A. ‘50 and Ph.D. ’56 Yale University; M.A. ‘51 University of Michigan) is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at Boston University (since 1997) and Professor (since 1968) and has served as Chairman and Associate Chairman of the Department. He also has taught at Indiana University, the University of Colorado, and Washington University, St. Louis, and held visiting appointments at the University of London, the Panteios School in Athens, the International University of Japan, Doshisha University (Kyoto), and the Institute for Human Sciences (Vienna). He is past president of the Society of Retired Faculty and Staff, Boston University; co-founder of the Society for Phenomenology and the Human Sciences; co-founder of the International Institute for Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis; and founder and Editor-in-Chief of Human Studies: An International Journal for Phenomenology and the Human Sciences. He is listed in Who’s Who in The World, 2006; Who’s Who in America, 2005 and Who’s Who in the East, 1997.
In recent years he has specialized in phenomenological perspectives in sociology, ethnomethodology and conversation analysis. His more theoretical research has focused on the works of Alfred Schutz, Harold Garfinkel and other contributors to this tradition. His areas of interest include qualitative research methods, social interaction, conversation analysis, ethnomethodology and phenomenology and sociology.
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Conversation analysis has contributed enormously to the understanding of social life, social structure, the meaning ascribed by individuals to interaction, and the rules and structures of conversation. George Psathas' succinct introduction outlines its procedures and its major accomplishments, with discussions on verbal sequence, institutional constraints on interaction and the deep structure of talk.
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