The relations between Conversation Analysis (CA), sociology, and social theory are complex, often ambiguous, and have sometimes been rather fraught. While there might be some relatively high level of agreement amongst their practitioners on what CA is, what it does, and what it is meant to achieve, that is not so much the case for the more open and broad terrains of sociology and social theory. Moreover, each of the domains in question has changed in orientation, composition, and academic location since CA first came into existence in the late 1960s. While initially a child of sociology, as CA has matured and extended its substantive and methodological reach, it has become a large intellectual domain in its own right, with inputs from, and relevance for, a host of other disciplines, notably linguistics, anthropology, and psychology. It is now no longer at all clear how CA relates to sociology and social theory, what each side currently does, or what it could bring to the other in the future.

Talk is a central activity in social life. But how is ordinary talk organized? How do people coordinate their talk in interaction? And what is the role of talk in wider social processes? Conversation Analysis has developed over the past forty years as a key method for studying social interaction and language use. Its unique perspective and systematic methods make it attractive to an interdisciplinary audience. In this second edition of their highly acclaimed introduction, Ian Hutchby and Robin Wooffitt offer a wide-ranging and accessible overview of key issues in the field. The second edition has been substantially revised to incorporate recent developments, including an entirely new final chapter exploring the contribution of Conversation Analysis to key issues in social science. The book provides a grounding in the theory and methods of Conversation Analysis, and demonstrates its procedures by analyzing a variety of concrete examples. Written in a lively and engaging style, Conversation Analysis has become indispensable reading for students and researchers in sociology, sociolinguistics, applied linguistics, social psychology, communication studies and anthropology.

This book presents essays reflecting the current state and near-term prospects of sociological theory.

Presenting a comprehensive, state-of-the-art overview of theoretical and descriptive research in the field, The Handbook of Conversation Analysis brings together contributions by leading international experts to provide an invaluable information resource and reference for scholars of social interaction across the areas of conversation analysis, discourse analysis, linguistic anthropology, interpersonal communication, discursive psychology and sociolinguistics. Ideal as an introduction to the field for upper level undergraduates and as an in-depth review of the latest developments for graduate level students and established scholars Five sections outline the history and theory, methods, fundamental concepts, and core contexts in the study of conversation, as well as topics central to conversation analysis Written by international conversation analysis experts, the book covers a wide range of topics and disciplines, from reviewing underlying structures of conversation, to describing conversation analysis' relationship to anthropology, communication, linguistics, psychology, and sociology

A study of conversation analysis

Demonstrating how the methods and findings of conversation and discourse analysis may inform the development of empirical research questions, this text offers clear comparisons between the two approaches, as well as offering a positioned argument.

Talk is a central activity in social life. But how is ordinary talk organized? How do people coordinate their talk in interaction? And what is the role of talk in wider social processes? Conversation analysis has developed over the past thirty years as a key method for studying social interaction and language use. Its unique perspective and systematic methods make it attractive to a multidisciplinary audience. Yet while much has been written about the field, little of this is designed to be accessible to the undergraduate student encountering this area for the first time. In this book Ian Hutchby and Robin Wooffitt offer the first wide-ranging, accessible introduction to the field. The book offers a basic grounding in the theory and methods of conversation analysis and demonstrates its usefulness by analysing a variety of concrete examples. With an emphasis on practical demonstrations, they show how it addresses key questions in social science and in other professional fields such as human-computer interaction, political communication and speech therapy. Conversation Analysis is written in a lively, engaging and jargon-free style, and will be indispensable reading for undergraduates and their teachers on courses in sociology, sociolinguistics, applied linguistics, social psychology, communication studies and anthropology.