Chapter 10. Times of rest
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Jürgen Streeck
Abstract
This chapter discusses how multiple time-scales intersect in a particular unit of embodied communicative action, body postures that are held for a moment (beyond the single sequence of talk). These time-scales are the immediate moment and its position within the unfolding interaction sequence; the personal (‘historical’) relationship among the specific persons adopting it (its duration); the workday over whose course the body tires; and the life-course over which a bodily ‘habitus’ is formed. The specific shape of a socially meaningful posture is not only responsive to interactional circumstances and tasks, as well as the relational history of the parties, but also a result of the body’s ongoing adaptations to its own organic needs, a factor taken into account in everyday perceptions and descriptions of postures, but yet to be addressed in interaction research. The posture samples in this chapter are taken from interactions in an auto-shop and a high-school classroom.
Abstract
This chapter discusses how multiple time-scales intersect in a particular unit of embodied communicative action, body postures that are held for a moment (beyond the single sequence of talk). These time-scales are the immediate moment and its position within the unfolding interaction sequence; the personal (‘historical’) relationship among the specific persons adopting it (its duration); the workday over whose course the body tires; and the life-course over which a bodily ‘habitus’ is formed. The specific shape of a socially meaningful posture is not only responsive to interactional circumstances and tasks, as well as the relational history of the parties, but also a result of the body’s ongoing adaptations to its own organic needs, a factor taken into account in everyday perceptions and descriptions of postures, but yet to be addressed in interaction research. The posture samples in this chapter are taken from interactions in an auto-shop and a high-school classroom.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- The body in interaction 1
- Chapter 1. Forward-looking 31
- Chapter 2. Suspending talk 69
- Chapter 3. The temporal organization of conversation while mucking out a sheep stable 97
- Chapter 4. Revisiting delayed completions 123
- Chapter 5. Questions on the move 161
- Chapter 6. Bodily shadowing 203
- Chapter 7. Prefiguring the future 231
- Chapter 8. Embodiment of activity progress 261
- Chapter 9. Changes in turn-design over interactional histories – the case of instructions in driving school lessons 293
- Chapter 10. Times of rest 325
- Index 351
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- The body in interaction 1
- Chapter 1. Forward-looking 31
- Chapter 2. Suspending talk 69
- Chapter 3. The temporal organization of conversation while mucking out a sheep stable 97
- Chapter 4. Revisiting delayed completions 123
- Chapter 5. Questions on the move 161
- Chapter 6. Bodily shadowing 203
- Chapter 7. Prefiguring the future 231
- Chapter 8. Embodiment of activity progress 261
- Chapter 9. Changes in turn-design over interactional histories – the case of instructions in driving school lessons 293
- Chapter 10. Times of rest 325
- Index 351
