Abstract
Garfinkel used concepts of reflexivity and the member's judgemental work to show how these construct mutual understanding and social reality. Insofar as reflexivity means that the rationality of action and its sense must be treated as the outcome of each action or its accomplishment, the ground for doing what they are doing can be determined only by its own particularity. Most social action theories are based on social norms, but any thought of the member's compliance to social norms neglects this reflexivity of action. Then it does nothing but bring uniformity to the social life. And these theories make the member of society a judgemental dope.
However, Garfinkel argues that all aspects of social action and real society can be assigned to vitality and diversity by judgements unique to individual actors which are made in light of particular actions and events as of any particular moments. These judgements rest on ad hoc considerations, that is to say, such considerations as et cetera, unless, let it pass and factum valet. Ad hoc considerations that are constituent parts of a common sense knowledge does not restrain member's actions but is used to make sense of action and positively constructs a social reality.
In sum, the member of society decides actions of his own accord and constructs the life world. For that reason, it is the common sense knowledge which is the fundamental resource for making an autonomous judgement.
From this viewpoint, I suggest that ethnomethodology claim to return to any actors' autonomy or voluntariness which sociological theories have failed to accommodate because they have emphasized the restraint of social norms. In a word, ethnomethodology may safely be called humanism.
