Psathas1999

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Psathas1999
BibType ARTICLE
Key Psathas1999
Author(s) George Psathas
Title Studying the organization in action: Membership categorization and interaction
Editor(s)
Tag(s) EMCA, Membership Categorization, Ethnomethodology, Conversation Analysis, Institutional interaction
Publisher
Year 1999
Language English
City
Month
Journal Human Studies
Volume 22
Number
Pages 139-162
URL Link
DOI
ISBN
Organization
Institution
School
Type
Edition
Series
Howpublished
Book title
Chapter

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Abstract

A current set of concerns in ethnomethodology and conversation analysis includes the question of how conversation analysis (CA) can deal with studies of social structure or studies of talk in institutional settings. In this paper a focus is placed on how the accomplishment of “work” and “categorization” are interrelated. Two particular instances are examined: a ski school and a package delivery service. Membership categorization is shown to be a complex, on-going, interactive accomplishment. The parties act in ways that are “predicatively-bound” (i.e. predicates of action, rights, obligations, etc.) which allow inferences to be made by each of the parties about the other based on these actions; these enable each to accept/confirm/validate the other’s self-categorization and to produce, via their own actions, activities that are congruent with the other’s self-categorization. Activities of the parties are category-relevant and category-generative. Thus, “work” or “the work of the organization”, (e.g. for Choice, a package delivery service), is being accomplished in and through the talk and interaction of the parties.

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