Robinson2001

From emcawiki
Jump to: navigation, search
Robinson2001
BibType ARTICLE
Key Robinson2001
Author(s) Jeffrey D. Robinson
Title Asymmetry in action: sequential resources in the negotiation of a prescription request
Editor(s)
Tag(s) EMCA, physician, communication, interaction, conversation analysis, power
Publisher
Year 2001
Language English
City
Month
Journal Text
Volume 21
Number 1-2
Pages 19–54
URL Link
DOI 10.1515/text.1.21.1-2.19
ISBN
Organization
Institution
School
Type
Edition
Series
Howpublished
Book title
Chapter

Download BibTex

Abstract

This article deals with one form of interactional asymmetry in doctor–patient consultations, that of initiative: Doctors primarily initiate actions and solicit responses, whereas patients primarily respond to doctors' initiatives. This article argues that the variable of initiative actually contains two dimensions: speaker initiative and utterance constraint. It then reviews and critically evaluates prior accounts for these asymmetries. These accounts are almost exclusively ‘professional’ in nature, relying upon features of the social organization of the profession of medicine, medical contexts, or institutionalized medical activities. This article argues that asymmetries of initiative can and should initially be accounted for in terms of the everyday social organization of action. The primary organizing sequential structure for action is the adjacency-pair sequence, which embodies an intersubjective set of normative standards for producing and understanding behavior. This article supports a ‘mundane’ account of asymmetry with a conversation analytic, single-case analysis of a patient request for a renewal of a prescription.

Notes