Membership Categorisation Analysis. Technologies of social action

Situating stigma: Accounting for deviancy, difference and categorial relations

“…In working out the properly situational approach outlined by Goffman, we think that some of the insights of Harvey Sacks, 20 and particularly as they were developed into what became 'membership categorization analysis' 8,9,11,21,22 are useful here.…”

“…In working out the properly situational approach outlined by Goffman, we think that some of the insights of Harvey Sacks, 20 and particularly as they were developed into what became ‘membership categorization analysis' 8 , 9 , 11 , 21 , 22 are useful here. Drawing, albeit sparingly here, from this tradition, a first point is that—contra to most social science treatments—people do not straightforwardly ‘belong to’ this or that category, but, in a far more radical sense, the availability of a relevant category (and category device) organizes and accomplishes a person as a member of category, within a specific social setting and context.…”

Membership categorization analysis as means of studying person perception

“…Membership categories -and the rules governing their application -are not cognitive prototypes inside people's heads or inflexible conceptual grids which people automatically impose when categorizing (D'hondt 2013). Instead, they are socially constructed and commonly shared resources that help people navigate social situations (Fitzgerald, Housley, and Rintel 2017;Järviluoma and Roivainen 2003). In everyday social interaction, categorization is a routine activity based on common sense reasoning with the aim of describing, explaining and predicting other people's behavior (Kärkkäinen et al 2019).…”

“…According to Sacks (1972bSacks ( , 1992, membership categories can be defined as classifications or social types that are used as means of describing people and making sense of their local, situational actions (see also Hester and Eglin 1997a;Paulsen 2018). Hence, membership categorization is understood as a procedure in which cultural and social constructions are selectively intertwined with situational factors (Fitzgerald, Housley, and Rintel 2017;McLay & Renshaw 2019). This kind of navigation between cultural resources and situational encounters that occurs in purposeful action has been conceptualized as 'culture-in-action' (Hester and Eglin 1997b, 28) and 'social-knowledge-in-action' (Fitzgerald, Housley, and Rintel 2017, 51).…”