Evaldsson-Svahn2017

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Evaldsson-Svahn2017
BibType ARTICLE
Key Evaldsson-Svahn2017
Author(s) Ann-Carita Evaldsson, Johanna Svahn
Title Staging social aggression: Affective stances and moral character work in girls’ gossip telling
Editor(s)
Tag(s) EMCA, Membership Categorization, Affect, Aggression
Publisher
Year 2017
Language English
City
Month
Journal Research on Children and Social Interaction
Volume 1
Number 1
Pages 77–104
URL Link
DOI 10.1558/rcsi.32351
ISBN
Organization
Institution
School
Type
Edition
Series
Howpublished
Book title
Chapter

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Abstract

Drawing on ethnomethodological conversation analysis integrated with ethnographic approaches, we examine the organizing force and normative character of anger and aggression as jointly configured in the affective stances and moral actions displayed in the sequential and sociocultural context of an elaborated gossip event. Analytic attention is on the constitutive role of affect displays and membership categorization in mobilizing negative affect and evaluative actions toward a targeted girl leading ultimately to direct and verbal and physical confrontations. The analysis highlights how collaboratively performed affect displays (high-pitched voices, exaggerated faces, response cries, bodily re-enactments, laughter) and animated performances intensify reported insults (actual and imagined) and negative categorization of person and thus are mobilized in taking up oppositional stances and strengthening in-group alignments. It is found that the moral status of the targeted girl as a familiar ‘offender’ is incorporated into the affective moral stances and negative membership categorizations displayed in the moment-to-moment interactions, which in turn affect how and why the particular girl, cumulatively and over time, becomes a customary target of the others’ verbal and physical aggression.

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