|
Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
|
Whose Terms? Whose Ordinariness? Rhetoric and Ideology in Conversation Analysis
MICHAEL BILLIG
LOUGHBOROUGH UNIVERSITY
This article examines Schegloff's (1997) defence of Conversation Analysis (CA) and his attack on critical discourse analysis. The article focuses on Schegloff's claims that CA takes an empirical stance without a priori assumptions and that it examines participants' talk in `their own terms'. It is suggested that these claims are problematic, and that CA, as depicted by Schegloff, contains an ideological view of the social world. This can be seen by examining CA's own rhetoric, which conversation analysts themselves tend to take for granted. First, CA uses a specialist rhetoric which is literally not the participants' own terms. Moreover, this specialist rhetoric enables conversation analysts to `disattend' to the topics of conversation. Second, CA's `foundational rhetoric' is examined. It is suggested that this foundational rhetoric, which includes terms such as `conversation', `member', etc., conveys a participatory view of the world, in which equal rights of speakership are often assumed. The assumptions of these rhetorical conventions are revealed if they are applied to talk in which direct power is exercised. In this respect, CA is not, as Schegloff suggests, ideologically neutral, but habitually deploys a rhetoric that conveys a contestable view of social order.
Key Words: conversation analysis • ideology • rhetoric
Discourse & Society, Vol. 10, No. 4,
543-558 (1999)
DOI: 10.1177/0957926599010004005
 CiteULike  Complore  Connotea  Del.icio.us  Digg  Reddit  Technorati  Twitter What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
|
|
 
T. Brennan
Review: Victoria Clarke and Elizabeth Peel (eds): Out in Psychology: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Queer Perspectives. Chichester: Wiley, 2007, 496 pp. {pound}105.00/E157.50/US$200.00, ISBN 9780470012871 (hbk)
Feminism Psychology,
August 1, 2008;
18(3):
440 - 444.
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
W. Sims-Schouten, S. C.E. Riley, and C. Willig
Critical Realism in Discourse Analysis: A Presentation of a Systematic Method of Analysis Using Women's Talk of Motherhood, Childcare and Female Employment as an Example
Theory Psychology,
February 1, 2007;
17(1):
101 - 124.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
K. Haworth
The dynamics of power and resistance in police interview discourse
Discourse Society,
November 1, 2006;
17(6):
739 - 759.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Y. OHARA and S. SAFT
Using Conversation Analysis to Track Gender Ideologies in Social Interaction: toward a Feminist Analysis of a Japanese Phone-in Consultation TV Program
Discourse Society,
March 1, 2003;
14(2):
153 - 172.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
L. TAINIO
`When Shall We Go for a Ride?' a Case of the Sexual Harassment of a Young Girl
Discourse Society,
March 1, 2003;
14(2):
173 - 190.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
D. Macbeth
Hugh Mehan's Learning Lessons Reconsidered: On the Differences Between the Naturalistic and Critical Analysis of Classroom Discourse
American Educational Research Journal,
January 1, 2003;
40(1):
239 - 280.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
E. H. Stokoe and A. Weatheral
Gender, language, conversation analysis and feminism
Discourse Society,
November 1, 2002;
13(6):
707 - 713.
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
H. Tanaka and M. Fukushima
Gender orientations to outward appearance in Japanese conversation: a study in grammar and interaction
Discourse Society,
November 1, 2002;
13(6):
749 - 765.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I. Paoletti
Caring for older people: a gendered practice
Discourse Society,
November 1, 2002;
13(6):
805 - 817.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
J. Baxter
Competing discourses in the classroom: a Post-structuralist Discourse Analysis of girls' and boys' speech in public contexts
Discourse Society,
November 1, 2002;
13(6):
827 - 842.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
J. Baxter
Is PDA really an alternative? A reply to West
Discourse Society,
November 1, 2002;
13(6):
853 - 859.
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
D. C. Giles
Keeping the public in their place: audience participation in lifestyle television programming
Discourse Society,
September 1, 2002;
13(5):
603 - 628.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
P. J. Glenn, F. Bramlett, P. Thetela, and S. J. Skilton
Book reviews
Discourse Society,
September 1, 2002;
13(5):
691 - 701.
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
C. West and S. Fenstermaker
Accountability in action: the accomplishment of gender, race and class in a meeting of the University of California Board of Regents
Discourse Society,
July 1, 2002;
13(4):
537 - 563.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
M. Bucholtz
Reflexivity and Critique in Discourse Analysis
Critique of Anthropology,
June 1, 2001;
21(2):
165 - 183.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
J. Blommaert
Context is/as Critique
Critique of Anthropology,
March 1, 2001;
21(1):
13 - 32.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
E. H. STOKOE and J. SMITHSON
Making Gender Relevant: Conversation Analysis and Gender Categories in Interaction
Discourse Society,
March 1, 2001;
12(2):
217 - 244.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
S. A. Speer
Reconsidering the Concept of Hegemonic Masculinity: Discursive Psychology, Conversation Analysis and Participants' Orientations
Feminism Psychology,
February 1, 2001;
11(1):
107 - 135.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
N. Edley
Conversation Analysis, Discursive Psychology and the Study of Ideology: A Response to Susan Speer
Feminism Psychology,
February 1, 2001;
11(1):
136 - 140.
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
S. A. Speer
Participants' Orientations, Ideology and the Ontological Status of Hegemonic Masculinity: A Rejoinder to Nigel Edley
Feminism Psychology,
February 1, 2001;
11(1):
141 - 144.
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
E. H. Stokoe
IV. Toward a Conversation Analytic Approach to Gender and Discourse
Feminism Psychology,
November 1, 2000;
10(4):
552 - 563.
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I. ARMINEN
On the Context Sensitivity of Institutional Interaction
Discourse Society,
October 1, 2000;
11(4):
435 - 458.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
S. A. SPEER and J. POTTER
The Management of Heterosexist Talk: Conversational Resources and Prejudiced Claims
Discourse Society,
October 1, 2000;
11(4):
543 - 572.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
M. Murray
Levels of Narrative Analysis in Health Psychology
J Health Psychol,
May 1, 2000;
5(3):
337 - 347.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
C. Kitzinger
Doing Feminist Conversation Analysis
Feminism Psychology,
May 1, 2000;
10(2):
163 - 193.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
