Human agency and the infrastructure for requests
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N.J. Enfield
Abstract
This chapter discusses some of the elements of human sociality that serve as the social and cognitive infrastructure or preconditions for the use of requests and other kinds of recruitments in interaction. The notion of an agent with goals is a canonical starting point, though importantly agency tends not to be wholly located in individuals, but rather is socially distributed. This is well illustrated in the case of requests, in which the person or group that has a certain goal is not necessarily the one who carries out the behavior towards that goal. The chapter focuses on the role of semiotic (mostly linguistic) resources in negotiating the distribution of agency with request-like actions, with examples from video-recorded interaction in Lao, a language spoken in Laos and nearby countries. The examples illustrate five hallmarks of requesting in human interaction, which show some ways in which our ‘manipulation’ of other people is quite unlike our manipulation of tools: (1) that even though B is being manipulated, B wants to help, (2) that while A is manipulating B now, A may be manipulated in return later; (3) that the goal of the behavior may be shared between A and B, (4) that B may not comply, or may comply differently than requested, due to actual or potential contingencies, and (5) that A and B are accountable to one another; reasons may be asked for, and/or given, for the request. These hallmarks of requesting are grounded in a prosocial framework of human agency.
Abstract
This chapter discusses some of the elements of human sociality that serve as the social and cognitive infrastructure or preconditions for the use of requests and other kinds of recruitments in interaction. The notion of an agent with goals is a canonical starting point, though importantly agency tends not to be wholly located in individuals, but rather is socially distributed. This is well illustrated in the case of requests, in which the person or group that has a certain goal is not necessarily the one who carries out the behavior towards that goal. The chapter focuses on the role of semiotic (mostly linguistic) resources in negotiating the distribution of agency with request-like actions, with examples from video-recorded interaction in Lao, a language spoken in Laos and nearby countries. The examples illustrate five hallmarks of requesting in human interaction, which show some ways in which our ‘manipulation’ of other people is quite unlike our manipulation of tools: (1) that even though B is being manipulated, B wants to help, (2) that while A is manipulating B now, A may be manipulated in return later; (3) that the goal of the behavior may be shared between A and B, (4) that B may not comply, or may comply differently than requested, due to actual or potential contingencies, and (5) that A and B are accountable to one another; reasons may be asked for, and/or given, for the request. These hallmarks of requesting are grounded in a prosocial framework of human agency.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgement vii
- Glossary of transcription conventions ix
- Requesting – from speech act to recruitment 1
- Human agency and the infrastructure for requests 35
- Benefactors and beneficiaries 55
- The putative preference for offers over requests 87
- On divisions of labor in request and offer environments 115
- The social and moral work of modal constructions in granting remote requests 145
- Two request forms of four year olds 171
- Orchestrating directive trajectories in communicative projects in family interaction 185
- How to do things with requests 215
- On the grammatical form of requests at the convenience store 243
- Requesting immediate action in the surgical operating room 269
- When do people not use language to make requests? 303
- “Requests” and “offers” in orangutans and human infants 335
- Subject Index 365
- Name Index 369
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgement vii
- Glossary of transcription conventions ix
- Requesting – from speech act to recruitment 1
- Human agency and the infrastructure for requests 35
- Benefactors and beneficiaries 55
- The putative preference for offers over requests 87
- On divisions of labor in request and offer environments 115
- The social and moral work of modal constructions in granting remote requests 145
- Two request forms of four year olds 171
- Orchestrating directive trajectories in communicative projects in family interaction 185
- How to do things with requests 215
- On the grammatical form of requests at the convenience store 243
- Requesting immediate action in the surgical operating room 269
- When do people not use language to make requests? 303
- “Requests” and “offers” in orangutans and human infants 335
- Subject Index 365
- Name Index 369
