Scott1968

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Scott1968
BibType ARTICLE
Key Scott1968
Author(s) Marvin B. Scott, Stanford M. Lyman
Title Accounts
Editor(s)
Tag(s)
Publisher [American Sociological Association, Sage Publications, Inc.]
Year 1968
Language
City
Month
Journal American Sociological Review
Volume 33
Number 1
Pages 46–62
URL Link
DOI
ISBN
Organization
Institution
School
Type
Edition
Series
Howpublished
Book title
Chapter

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Abstract

Although talk is the fundamental material of human relations, the sociology of talk remains undeveloped. This article presents an analysis of one kind of talk, the employment of accounts–statements made to explain untoward behavior and bridge the gap between actions and expectations. Accounts may be classified by content as excuses and justifications, each with its own subtypes. Excuses and justifications are socially approved vocabularies which neutralize an act or its consequences when one or both are called into question. The honoring of an account represents the restoration of equilibrium. There are also strategies for avoiding accounts. More broadly, accounts are manifestations of the underlying negotiation of identities within speech communities.

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