Schutz's remarks on the "Sociological Aspect of Literature" provides the occasion for reconsidering the dramaturgical approach to the study of society. By combining the Burkean dramatistic pentad with Schutz's conceptualizations of the intersubjective relations that prevail in actor/audience encounters, and, at the same time, historicizing the Schutz-Gurwitsch debate over the character and quality of Umwelten, it is possible to resolve certain dilemmas posed by recent postmodernist thinkers and to open social sciences to a humane and egalitarian approach to the investigation and understanding of the "Other."