Micro, Meso and Macro Levels of Social Analysis

Abstract

Micro, meso and macro are levels or scales that can and may be mobilised in social analysis. This paper aims to contribute to the reflection and discussion, in particular, of the use of the meso level in the apprehension of social reality, in its potential advantages and disadvantages. For this purpose, a document collection and selection was carried out. Furthermore, the authors’ experience in teaching and research in social sciences, especially in the area of Sociology, was also used. This analytical exercise allows concluding that the meso-social level is mobilised in some perspectives, focusing in a privileged way on the group or the organisation as a structure and intermediate process between the other two levels. As for implications, it may be asserted that the meso level only has heuristic capabilities in the interpretation of a particular social context if the other two levels are not neglected in the analysis.