Arminen2000

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Arminen2000
BibType ARTICLE
Key Arminen2000
Author(s) Ilkka Arminen
Title On the context sensitivity of institutional interaction
Editor(s)
Tag(s) EMCA, Institutional, Context, Institutional interaction, Institutional talk, Institutional identities, Institutional power, Procedural consequentiality, Procedural relevancy
Publisher
Year 2000
Language
City
Month
Journal Discourse & Society
Volume 11
Number 4
Pages 435–458
URL Link
DOI 10.1177/0957926500011004001
ISBN
Organization
Institution
School
Type
Edition
Series
Howpublished
Book title
Chapter

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Abstract

The study of institutional interaction explicates the verbal activities and interactional arrangements through which institutional practices are realized. I demonstrate that to analyse these practices sensitively, the analyst must possess sufficient knowledge of the context. In institutional settings an agent may orient to expert knowledge or organizational procedures taken for granted for the practice in question, but not known to outsiders.

Understanding the context-sensitive meaning of the activities may depend on access to these particulars. Methodologically, the procedural relevancy of context is a crucial criterion against arbitrary invocation of a countless number of extrinsic, potential aspects of context. I will show that the analyst's ability to use procedural consequentiality as an analytical criterion depends on the analyst's sufficient knowledge of the context in question. By characterizing the ways `generic' interactional patterns are used in institutional settings, we can also address larger sociological questions about institutional identities and the exercise of institutional power.

Notes