The Concept of Action (New Departures in Anthropology)

When People Do Things With Words, How Do We Know What They Are Doing? Many Scholars Have Assumed A Category Of Things Called Actions: 'requests', 'proposals', 'complaints', 'excuses'. The Idea Is Both Convenient And Intuitive, But As This Book Argues, It Is A Spurious Concept Of Action. In Interaction, A Person's Primary Task Is To Decide How To Respond, Not To Label What Someone Just Did. The Labeling Of Actions Is A Meta-level Process, Appropriate Only When We Wish To Draw Attention To Others' Behaviors In Order To Quiz, Sanction, Praise, Blame, Or Otherwise Hold Them To Account. This Book Develops A New Account Of Action Grounded In Certain Fundamental Ideas About The Nature Of Human Sociality: That Social Conduct Is Naturally Interpreted As Purposeful; That Human Behavior Is Shaped Under A Tyranny Of Social Accountability; And That Language Is Our Central Resource For Social Action And Reaction. Basics Of Action -- The Study Of Action -- The Distribution Of Action -- The Ontology Of Action -- Collateral Effects -- Natural Meaning. N.j. Enfield, University Of Sydney, Jack Sidnell, University Of Toronto. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 202-217) And Index. Frontmatter 1 Contents 6 Figures and Table 7 Preface 10 Acknowledgements 17 Abbreviations 18 Transcription Conventions 20 Part I. Preliminaries to Action 24 Basics of Action 26 Social Action Is Semiotic 31 Social Action Is Always Contextualized 36 Position Matters: The Account of Action Must Work in an Enchronic Frame 45 Summary 53 The Study of Action 55 Language, Action, and Anthropology 55 Basic Problems for a Theory of Action in Interaction 57 The Evidence from Practices of Repair 63 Practices and Actions, Orchestrations and Inferences 68 Language, Action, and Accountability 76 Actions, Accountability, Outcomes 81 Getting a Caller’s Name by Simply Giving One’s Own Name 82 Fishing for Information by Telling ‘My-Side’ 82 Eliciting an Offer by Describing a Trouble 83 Conclusion 84 Part II. The Nature of Action 86 The Distribution of Action 88 The Case of Recruitments 89 Flexibility in the Pursuit of Goals 91 Language as a Tool for Mobilizing Others 92 Hallmarks of Recruiting 99 B Wants to Do the Recruited Action 100 Roles May Be Reversed 102 The Goal May Be Shared 103 B Need Not Comply 105 One May Need to Give B Reasons Why They Should Do the Action 106 Conclusion 110 The Ontology of Action 112 Natural Action versus Social Action 112 Courses of Action 115 The Ontology of Action 116 Three Dimensions of Contrast in the Analysis of Action 118 Purposive Action versus Effect 118 Explicit versus Primary (cf. ‘Implicit’ and ‘Indirect’) 120 Real-Time Constitution versus Ex Post Facto (i.e., Retroactive) Formulation 123 Components and Types of Action in Interaction 124 Distinguishing Components of an Action 124 Taxonomizing Actions 131 An Alternative Account: A Generative View of Action 134 A Non-Linguistic Example: Action Construal and Object Transfer 135 A Linguistic Example: ‘Pre-Closing’, ‘Assertion’, ‘Complaint’, or ‘Request’? 138 Discussion 145 Part III. Action and Human Diversity 148 Collateral Effects 150 Linguistic Relativity 150 Collateral Effects Defined 155 Social Interaction: The Progressive Realization of Understanding in Action 156 Relativity of Action in the Balance of Agreement and Authority 159 Collateral Effects Again 163 K-Plus Second Assessments: A Three-Language Comparison 165 Caribbean English Creole: If-Prefaced Repeats 165 Finnish: Word Order Variation 172 Lao: Perfective Particle Lèq1 178 Conclusion 186 Natural Meaning 191 The Adjacency Pair 192 Responding to Polar Questions 193 Interjection Strategy 195 Repetition Strategy 195 Analysis 197 Interjection Confirmation 197 Repeat Confirmations 202 Natural Meaning in Action Formation, Cross-Linguistic Universal Patterning 210 Agency in the Formation of Responsive Action 215 Postface 218 References 225 Index 241 List of Figures and Table page vi Preface ix Acknowledgements xvi List of Abbreviations xvii Transcription Conventions xix Part I Preliminaries to Action 1 1 Basics of Action 3 2 The Study of Action 32 Part II The Nature of Action 63 3 The Distribution of Action 65 4 The Ontology of Action 89 Part III Action and Human Diversity 125 5 Collateral Effects 127 6 Natural Meaning 168 Postface 195 References 202 Index 218 Language is key to understanding human social action. This book questions long-held and widely accepted views of how social action works, and argues for a new theory of social action based on close observation of language in social interaction across cultures. It is ideal reading for anthropologists and linguists alike.