Some Organizational Features in the Local Production of a Plausible Text*‡

Abstract

Given that written texts are characterized by indexicality and incompleteness; how is it that they are read and followed then judged adequate? In particular how are social scientific arguments read as plausible under such conditions? It is suggested that the very natural language that renders such arguments in principle problematic, provides a resource in its textual particulars for the repair of indexicality. The article analyzes some local textual features with methods borrowed from conversational analysis to demonstrate three reader/writer strategies 'age orientation', the categorization of a population as more than incidentally juvenile; establishing 'author authority' ; and 'investing' (apparently senseless actors with 'purpose'.

Methodological Irony and Media Analysis: On Textual Presentations in the Work of Theorising

“…Instead, this paper turns on how Chomsky makes his analysis plausible (Anderson, 1978): how does Chomsky, through textual, i.e. linguistic devices, upgrade or persuade people to believe his version at the expense of competing, common-sense versions?…”

“…They are socially organised in the sense that the natural language practices involved in writing and reading are knownin-common, intersubjective and socially shared practices. Membership of a culture, or 'mastery' of natural language, 'includes the ability to understand more than is explicitly said' (Goodwin & Duranti, 1992: 28)-including within academic presentations (Anderson, 1978;Stoddart, 1986).…”

The Significance of Ethnography in Youth Participation Research: Active Citizenship in the UK after the Brexit Vote

“…truth, and representativeness are thus impossible to attain. (For a critique of this critique, see Anderson 1978;Kuhn 1962;and Platt 1981. ) It is possible to categorize the responses to this critique: On the one hand, there have been attempts to systematize and control the role of the researcher in the hope of being rigorous enough to attain the "truth" (see Athens 1984;Becker 1970;Bogden and Taylor 1975;Lofland 1974;Matza 1969;Seale 1999).…”

Ethnomethodology: A Critical Review

“…(For a sustained treatment of the topic from the perspective of classical rhetoric rathe~ than ethnomethodology, see Edmondson 1984; for comparable discussions of anthropology, see Clifford & Marcus, 1986;in economics, see McCloskey 1985. ) In an ethnomethodological vein, Anderson (1978) provides one .analysis of the textual construction of sociological categories and arguments. He shows how each text constructs its rationality and plausibility through a series of conventional devices.…”