The concept of action / N.J. Enfield, University of Sydney, Jack Sidnell, University of Toronto.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Enfield, N. J., 1966- author.

Sidnell, Jack, author.

Series:

New departures in anthropology

New Departures In Anthropology

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Social interaction.

Anthropological linguistics.

Sociolinguistics.

Physical Description:

xxi, 222 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2017.

Summary:

When people do things with words, how do we know what they are doing? Many scholars have assumed a category of things called actions: 'requests', 'proposals', 'complaints', 'excuses'. The idea is both convenient and intuitive, but as this book argues, it is a spurious concept of action. In interaction, a person's primary task is to decide how to respond, not to label what someone just did. The labeling of actions is a meta-level process, appropriate only when we wish to draw attention to others' behaviors in order to quiz, sanction, praise, blame, or otherwise hold them to account. This book develops a new account of action grounded in certain fundamental ideas about the nature of human sociality: that social conduct is naturally interpreted as purposeful; that human behavior is shaped under a tyranny of social accountability; and that language is our central resource for social action and reaction.

Contents:

Basics of action

The study of action

The distribution of action

The ontology of action

Collateral effects

Natural meaning.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780521719650

0521719658

9780521895286

0521895286

OCLC:

987711931