Talk in Action: Interactions, Identities, and Institutions

by John Heritage, Steven Clayman

Overview

Talk in Action examines the language, identity, and interaction of social institutions, introducing students to the research methodology of Conversation Analysis.

• Features a unique focus on real-world applications of CA by examining four institutional domains: calls to emergency numbers, doctor-patient interaction, courtroom trials, and mass communication,
• Provides a theoretical and methodological overview of the roots of CA, reviewing the main developments and findings of research on talk and social institutions conducted over the past 25 years
• Showcases the significance of this subject to everyday events, making it ideal for students coming to the field for the first time
• Written by two leading figures in the field of Conversation Analysis

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781405185493
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	04/26/2010
Series:	Language in Society , #22
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	6.70(w) x 9.60(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Steven Clayman is Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles. He has written extensively on topics relating to conversation analysis and is co-author, with John Heritage, of The News Interview: Journalists and Public Figures on the Air (2002).

John Heritage is Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles. His publications include Garfinkel and Ethnomethodology (1984) and Communication in Medical Care: Interaction between Primary Care Physicians and Patients (2006).

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Table of Contents

1 Introduction 1

Part 1 Conversation Analysis and Social Institutions 5

2 Conversation Analysis: Some Theoretical Background 7

3 Talking Social Institutions into Being 20

4 Dimensions of Institutional Talk 34

Part 2 Calls for Emergency Service 51

5 Emergency Calls as Institutional Talk 53

6 Gatekeeping and Entitlement to Emergency Service 69

7 Emergency Calls under Stress 87

Part 3 Doctor-Patient Interaction 101

8 Patients' Presentations of Medical Issues: The Doctor's Problem 103

9 Patients' Presentations of Medical Issues: The Patient's Problem 119

10 History Taking in Medicine: Questions and Answers 135

11 Diagnosis and Treatment: Medical Authority and Its Limits 154

Part 4 Trials, Juries, and Dispute Resolution 171

12 Trial Examinations 173

13 Jury Deliberations 186

14 Informal Modes of Dispute Resolution 200

Part 5 News and Political Communication 213

15 News Interview Turn Taking 215

16 Question Design in the News Interview and Beyond 227

17 Answers and Evasions 245

18 Interaction en Masse: Audiences and Speeches 263

19 Conclusion 280

Transcript Symbols 283

References 288

Index of Names 304

Index of Subjects 309