Rottura e Ristrutturazione Il senso del fallimento nel pensiero di Alfred Schütz

Although not fully systematized in Alfred Schutz's work, failure functions as a recurrent operational concept throughout his thought. It is central to his theories of action, stock of knowledge, and intersubjective communication. This paper examines failure and its social and affective implications within Schutz's framework. We underscore the impact of failure on identity, on one's sense of familiarity with the surrounding world, and on intersubjective trust. This analysis brings out the ambivalence of this concept: on the one hand, a source of frustration, isolation, and identity crisis; on the other, a creative force that unsettles the taken-for-granted and opens spaces for reflection and the production of shared meanings. [Publisher's Text]