Explaining One's Self To Others: Reason-giving in A Social Context

by McLaughlin,Margaret L.

• ISBN13: 9780805807998
• ISBN10: 0805807993
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1992-05-01
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

To date, the study of communicated explanations has been, at best, unsystematic. There has been little recognition that many, if not most, explanations are eventually delivered to a hearer or hearers. These potential audiences constrain the way the explanation is ultimately shaped. Similarly, researchers have devoted themselves to the study of "accounts," for the most part without an accompanying interest in the fundamental processes of event comprehension. This volume is devoted to bridging the gap between

Table of Contents

Communication	p. ii
Contributors	p. xi
References	p. xxi
The Nature of Social Explanations	p. 1
Constructing Accounts: The Role of Explanatory Coherence	p. 3
References	p. 18
The Use of Prototypical Explanations in First- and Third-Person Account	p. 21
References	p. 37
The Study of Causal Explanation in Natural Language: Analysing Reports of the Challenger Disaster in The New York Times	p. 41
References	p. 56
An Economy of Explanations	p. 61
References	p. 79
Lay Explanations	p. 83
References	p. 102
A Conversation Approach to Explanation, with Emphasis on Politeness and Accounting	p. 105
Excuses in Everyday Interaction	p. 131
References	p. 146
Explanations and Social Contexts	p. 147
Legal Fictions: Telling Stories and Doing Justice	p. 149
Acknowledgment	p. 164
References	p. 165
The Account Episode in Close Relationships	p. 167
References	p. 181
Explanation as Legitimation: Excuse-Making in Organizations	p. 183
References	p. 195
References	p. 195
Alternative Knowledge Sources in Explanations of Racist Events	p. 199
References	p. 222
The Social-Interactive Aspects of Account-Giving	p. 225
References	p. 242
Storytelling as Collaborative Reasoning: Co-Narratives In Incest Case Accounts	p. 245
References	p. 259
References	p. 259
What Went Wrong: Communicating Accounts of Relationship Conflict	p. 261
References	p. 280
Accounting for Failure to Follow Advice: Real Reasons Versus Good Explanations	p. 281
References	p. 294
Author Index	p. 295
Subject Index	p. 305
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