Avoiding Catastrophe: The Interactional Production of Possibility during the Cuban Missile Crisis

Gibson, David R.

doi:10.1086/661761

Cited by 43 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…From the perspective of the story's coherence, the important thing is that every event that is narrated as potentially happening is plausible given all events that were narrated as preceding it. Consequently, a single contribution to a narrative-in-progress can alter its trajectory, while the failure to contribute may allow a story to develop in a way that a fuller discussion of possible risks might not have allowed (Gibson 2011). This raises the stakes in speaking, providing interlocutors with motivation to avail themselves of the resources of future narration.…”

Section: Stories: Past and Futurementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thompson.... as Chip [Bohlen] says >I agree with him< that if if they're prepared to say all right (.4) you do then this is nuclear world war then they would do that anyway uh uh (1.2) I think he'd make a lot of threatening language but very vague terms in keeping his ( ) 16 17 JFK......... yeah I would think it's more likely that he would just grab Berli:n that's the more likely 11 Talk around this particular risk, which plagued any proposal to warn Khrushchev before an attack on Cuba, is analyzed in detail in Gibson (2011). 12 Bobby's prediction in Excerpt 3 that the U.S. would have to sink Russian submarines could also be seen as a co-consequence, namely of sinking Russian ships.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Speaking of the Future: Contentious Narration During the Cuban Missile Crisis

Gibson

2011

Qual Sociol

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People tell stories about not only the past, but also the future, particularly when contemplating difficult decisions. When such stories are constructed aloud, in conversation, the potential for disagreement is pervasive because no one can claim to have witnessed the future and thus no one can claim the sole right to narrate it. Consequently, storytelling procedures need to be broadened to accommodate a diversity of opinions about causes and consequences. This article argues that those procedures are based on an expanded notion of narrative relevance, and illustrates their operation in the deliberations of the Executive Committee of the National Security Council during the Cuban missile crisis. These storytelling procedures provided scaffolding for the deliberations about possible U.S. responses after the discovery of Soviet missiles; they delimited the "moving front" for skirmishes around possible scenarios and outcomes; and they were partly constitutive of the discursive grounds for Kennedy's decisions.

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Section: Stories: Past and Futurementioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Speaking of the Future: Contentious Narration During the Cuban Missile Crisis

Gibson

2011

Qual Sociol

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“…First, Alfred Schutz's (1959Schutz's ( , 1967 ideas on how humans produce expectations help in understanding the process of producing views about the future. Second, what David Gibson (2011aGibson ( , 2011b) calls 'foretalk' shows how different knowledges about the future fuse interactionally into a common view.…”

Section: The Possibility Of Knowledge About the Future: Two Theoreticmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Here, David Gibson's (2011aGibson's ( , 2011bGibson's ( , 2012 concept of 'foretalk' is helpful in understanding the production of new possible futures. He argues that the talk between two or more actors about possible futures can be considered as 'foretalk'.…”

Section: Producing a Common Futurementioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the previous two sections, I described how economic forecasters regularly meet with other economists to exchange ideas, share new insights, and discuss problems, or in Gibson's (2011aGibson's ( , 2011b) words, to foretalk. As Evans (2007: 691) argues, these 'professional networks' are the source of certain types of expertise that help overcome the uncertainties of econometric models and help people judge between models.…”

Section: Politics and Businessmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Epistemic participation: How to produce knowledge about the economic future

Reichmann

2013

Soc Stud Sci

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This article explores economic forecasting by examining the various social settings and networks economic forecasters are embedded in. It discusses how forecasters meet with political and economic actors and also how members of forecasting teams embody main aggregates of the economy to commonly produce a consensus about the economic future. The data underlying this article were collected from three economic forecasting institutes in German-speaking countries and consist of interviews with economic forecasters and representative users of the forecasts in economic and political organizations. The article argues that on the backstage of economic forecasting, macroeconomic models are subordinate. Rather, the production process of economic forecasts is embedded in various formal and informal networks. The article summarizes the activities on the backstage of economic forecasting by using the notion of 'epistemic participation'. This means that the forecasters give their object of inquiry, which is the economy, the opportunity to participate actively in the epistemic process. Epistemic participation has two dimensions: First, it takes place in a network including the forecasters and key individuals from the economy and economic policy. Second, forecasters identify with significant parts of the economy and give them a body and a voice. Epistemic participation conceptualizes the relationship between researchers and a highly reflexive and communicative object.

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How Moral Identity Influences Leadership Ethics: A Historical Case Study

Nunn¹,

Avella²

2015

J Psych Issues Organ Cult

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This historical case study of U. S. Presidents Kennedy and Nixon explored how individual moral identity can influence leadership ethics in decision making. The study examined how four key influences of education, family, peers, and religion could affect a leader's ability to make ethical or unethical decisions. Data analysis determined emergent themes from these influences to establish positive or negative moral identity development. Study results contributed to the literature by demonstrating how moral identity influences that emphasize societal welfare versus a self‐focus can affect a leader's ability to make ethical or unethical decisions.

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Avoiding Catastrophe: The Interactional Production of Possibility during the Cuban Missile Crisis

Cited by 43 publications

References 51 publications

Speaking of the Future: Contentious Narration During the Cuban Missile Crisis

Speaking of the Future: Contentious Narration During the Cuban Missile Crisis

Epistemic participation: How to produce knowledge about the economic future

How Moral Identity Influences Leadership Ethics: A Historical Case Study

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