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Social identity and procedural consequentiality in welfare interviews

  • Mika Simonen

    Mika Simonen is a doctoral student at the University of Helsinki and his dissertation investigates functional capacity interviews. He is a member of The Finnish Centre of Excellence in Research on Intersubjectivity in Interaction.

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Published/Copyright: August 24, 2016

Abstract

This article studies how, in welfare interviews, interviewers receive simple positive responses from interviewees that are not indexing any answer options. Using videotaped data from welfare-related interviews in Finland (N=23), it is shown that interviewers receiving response particles joo ‘yeah’ and kyllä ‘yes’, and the verb repeat response pystyn ‘I am able’, may treat them (i) as interchangeable, and (ii) differently, since they take into account the prior speaker’s social identity. Minimal responses delivered by the unemployed are taken for granted, while the same responses delivered by elderly retirees are accountable. Hence, social identity is demonstrably relevant and procedurally consequential in the reception of positive minimal responses. This analytical claim should be carefully considered by anyone collecting data through interviews.

About the author

Mika Simonen

Mika Simonen is a doctoral student at the University of Helsinki and his dissertation investigates functional capacity interviews. He is a member of The Finnish Centre of Excellence in Research on Intersubjectivity in Interaction.

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Anssi Peräkylä, Liisa Voutilainen, Mikko Kahri, Melisa Stevanovic, Timo Kaukomaa, Elina Weiste, and Vuokko Härmä for helpful suggestions at the early stages of this study. Special thanks to Trini Stickle and the anonymous reviewers for valuable comments on the manuscript. This study has received financial support from the Graduate School of Language, Action and Social Interaction (Sovako).

Appendix: transcription symbols

[word]

overlap starts and ends

=

latched words/turns

(.)

micro-pause

(0.2)

silence in tenths of second

°word°

quieter speech

((word))

observations from the video

wor-

cut-off

>word<

faster talk

<word>

slower talk

underline

emphasis, e. g. stress on a vowel

rising pitch of the following syllable/word

falling pitch of the following syllable/word

.

falling intonation

,

flat intonation

?

rising intonation

:

prolongation of vowel/sound

h

outbreath

.h

inbreath

.tch

audible tongue smack

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Published Online: 2016-8-24
Published in Print: 2016-9-1

©2016 by De Gruyter Mouton

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