Social Accountability in Communication

"Scholars and students who have not done conversation analysis, but wish to do so, will find Richard Buttny's overview helpful. . . .Any discourse analyst interested in explicating better his or her analytic procedures, and relating them to assumptions and beliefs about social inquiry, will find Buttny's book valuable. --Language in Society Much of our talk revolves around accounting for our own and other people's actions. We praise one person and blame another, justify our own actions, speculate on motives, and tell and retell problematic events. Drawing from speech communication, sociology, and social psychology, Social Accountability in Communication offers an original and interdisciplinary approach to language and social interaction. Buttny examines social accountability within communication contexts ranging from a therapy session to welfare and broadcast news interviews; from everyday conversation to discussions in a Zen monastery. Throughout his wide-ranging analysis of accounts talk, he integrates conversation analytic methods with social constructionism. Fluently written, Social Accountability in Communication is a comprehensive and accessible work which is essential reading for scholars and graduate students in language and social interaction, interpersonal communication, social psychology, and discourse analysis.