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Self-categorization: a resource for the management of experiential entitlement in talk about child death

  • Daniella Rafaely is a lecturer in the Department of Psychology at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. She uses an ethnomethodological, conversation-analytic approach to the study of social interaction, social categories and common-sense knowledge. Her research utilizes a range of everyday settings in order to examine the methods by which morality is reproduced as a social institution in everyday interactions.

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Veröffentlicht/Copyright: 10. Januar 2023

Abstract

In this paper, I examine self-categorization practices as resources for the interactional organization of relative experiential entitlements. Locating the study in talk about child death, an explicitly moral domain of social life, this study utilizes 18 radio-based interactions from a South African talk-radio broadcaster. Using an ethnomethodological, conversation-analytic approach, I examine affective responses to reports of child deaths, demonstrating how these practices reproduce child death as a contemporary social and moral concern. My findings demonstrate how practices of, and variations in, self-reference and self-categorization are resources for managing relative rights and obligations, thereby reproducing common-sense knowledge about parents and children in contemporary South African society. This research contributes to advancing knowledge in the fields of membership categorization analysis and the social organization of experience.


Corresponding author: Daniella Rafaely, Department of Psychology, School of Human and Community Development, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, Wits, 2050 Johannesburg, South Africa, E-mail:

About the author

Daniella Rafaely

Daniella Rafaely is a lecturer in the Department of Psychology at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. She uses an ethnomethodological, conversation-analytic approach to the study of social interaction, social categories and common-sense knowledge. Her research utilizes a range of everyday settings in order to examine the methods by which morality is reproduced as a social institution in everyday interactions.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Professor Brett Bowman and Professor Kevin Whitehead for their valuable contributions to the development of this research. I would also like to thank the three anonymous reviewers for their detailed and helpful feedback on an earlier draft of this manuscript, which has resulted in a considerably improved study.

Appendix 1: Transcript conventions

[…] Square brackets mark the start and end of overlapping speech
↑↓ Vertical arrows precede marked pitch movement
Underlining Underlined letters indicate emphasis within an individual word
CAPITALS Capital letters mark speech that is hearably louder than surrounding speech
(0.6) Numbers in round brackets measure pauses in seconds and milliseconds
(.) Micropause
((laughter)) Double brackets indicate additional comments about features of the talk
Ye::ah Colons show degrees of elongation of the prior sound
Hhh Out-breaths
.hhh In-breaths
Yes=but Equals signs mark the immediate “latching” of successive talk with no interval
°Okay° Degree signs indicate whispering or hearably quiet talk
Pre Presenter or host of the talk show
Rep Reporter, including sports reporters and newsreaders
Cal Caller, member of the public

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Received: 2021-08-09
Accepted: 2022-12-15
Published Online: 2023-01-10
Published in Print: 2024-03-25

© 2022 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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