Alfred Schutz (1899–1959) was a prominent Austrian philosopher and social phenomenologist recognized for bridging sociological and phenomenological traditions. He famously developed the philosophical foundations for Max Weber's sociology using Edmund Husserl's phenomenology, most notably in his major work, Phenomenology of the Social World. Born in Vienna, Schutz served in WWI and pursued a successful career in international banking, leading Edmund Husserl to describe him as "a banker by day and a philosopher by night."

In 1938, facing the rise of Nazism, Schutz fled to Paris before relocating to the United States in 1939, where he taught sociology and philosophy at The New School. Though he died in New York City in 1959, his significant influence as a leading philosopher of social science largely emerged posthumously, particularly with the publication of his Collected Papers in the 1960s.