Talk and Social Structure

A survey of current developments in ethnomethodology and conversation analysis, relating these areas to issues in the social sciences. Both theoretical and empirical in its approach, the book focuses on the reflexive relation of everyday talk and social structure.

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Talk and Social Structure is an up-to-date and provocative survey of current developments combining the complementary fields of ethnomethodology and conversation analysis. The book provides a distinctive debate that relates these innovative areas to important issues in the social sciences. Including contributions from many of the world leaders in these fields, the book offers both new theoretical depth and an extensive range of empirical studies that focus on the reflexive relation of everyday talk and social structure. Contributors include Emanuel A. Schegloff, John Heritage, Thomas P. Wilson, Hugh Mehan, Douglas W. Maynard, George Psathas, Paul ten Have, Robert Hopper, Hanneke Houtkoop-Steenstra, Graham Button, and David Greatbatch, with a thematic chapter from the editors. Through the use of many examples, they demonstrate that studies of talk are important in their own right, while also having fundamental theoretical significance for social analysis.