Levinson2017

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Levinson2017
BibType INCOLLECTION
Key Levinson2017
Author(s) Stephen C. Levinson
Title Living with Manny’s dangerous idea
Editor(s) Geoffrey Raymond, Gene H. Lerner, John Heritage
Tag(s) EMCA, micro and macro contexts, Rossel Island, conversation, Papua New Guinea, reference, kinship, joking relationships
Publisher John Benjamins Publishing
Year 2017
Language English
City Amsterdam / Philadelphia
Month
Journal
Volume
Number
Pages 327–348
URL Link
DOI 10.1075/pbns.273.17lev
ISBN
Organization
Institution
School
Type
Edition
Series
Howpublished
Book title Enabling Human Conduct: Studies of talk-in-interaction in honor of Emanuel A. Schegloff
Chapter

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Abstract

Daniel Dennett, inDarwin’s Dangerous Idea, argues that natural selection is a universal acid that eats through other theories, because it can explain just about everything, even the structure of the mind. Emanuel (Manny)Schegloff (1987) in ‘Between Micro and Macro: Context and Other Connections’ opposes the importation of ‘macro’ (sociological/sociolinguistic) factors into the ‘micro’ (interaction analysis), suggesting that one might reverse the strategy instead. Like Darwin, he is coy about whether he just wants his own turf, but the idea opens up the possibility ofinteractional reductionism. I will argue against interactional reductionism on methodological grounds: Don’t bite off more than you can chew! Instead I’ll support the good old Durkheimian strategy of looking for intermediate variables between systems of different orders. I try and make the case with data from Rossel Island, Papua New Guinea.

Notes