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Papers by Rod Watson

Статья посвящена рассмотрению основных положений этнометодологического подхода к анализу текстуал... more Статья посвящена рассмотрению основных положений этнометодологического подхода к анализу текстуальных продуктов. С точки зрения автора, несмотря на повсеместность текстов в современной культуре, до сих пор они по большей части рассматривались либо как литературные произведения, либо как предмет психологических исследований, либо как источник социологических данных. Этнометодология позволяет изучать текстуальные материалы в качестве элементов повседневной жизни, как они производятся, понимаются и используются самими рядовыми членами общества для решения практических задач. На многочисленных примерах автор обосновывает необходимость анализировать любой текст в формате работы, которая затрачивается на его чтение, поскольку в отрыве от нее текст лишается своих специфических характеристик. Доказывается, что текст не обладает раз и навсегда заданным значением, его смысл постоянно устанавливается и пересматривается в зависимости от локальных социальных обстоятельств его чтения и употреблен...

Pragmatics, Jul 6, 2022

This paper identifies salient properties of how talk about video communication is organised inter... more This paper identifies salient properties of how talk about video communication is organised interactionally, and how this interaction invokes an implied order of behaviour that is treated as 'typical' and 'accountably representative' of video communication. This invoked order will be called an interrogative gaze. This is an implied orientation to action, one that is used as a jointly managed interpretative schema that allows video communication to be talked about and understood as rationally, purposively and collaboratively undertaken in particular, 'known in common' ways. This applies irrespective of whether the actions in question are prospective (are about to happen) or have been undertaken in the past and are being accounted for in the present or are 'generally the case'-in current talk. The paper shows how this constitutive device also aids in sense making through such things as topic management in video-mediated interaction, and in elaborating the salience of the relationship between this and the patterned governance of social affairs-viz, mother-daughter, friend-friend-as normatively achieved outcomes. It will be shown how the interrogative gaze is variously appropriate and consequentially invoked not just in terms of what is done in a video call or making such calls accountable, but in helping articulate different orders of connection between persons, and how these orders have implications for sensible and appropriate behaviour in video calling and hence, for the type of persons who are involved. This, in turn, explains how a decision to avoid using video communication is made an accountably reasonable thing to do. The relevance of these findings for the sociology of everyday life and the philosophy of action are explored.

Spécialiste de l'Ethnométhodologie. Rod Watson a été distingué en 2009 pour l'excellence de son t... more Spécialiste de l'Ethnométhodologie. Rod Watson a été distingué en 2009 pour l'excellence de son travail dans le champ de recherche de l' American Sociological Association. Il est l'auteur entre autres ouvrages d' Analysing Practical and Professional Texts: A Naturalistic Approach : Ashgate Publications, G.B. Je voudrais commencer par introduire, de façon schématique, deux éléments de base pour une définition du care qui est prédominante dans le monde Anglo-Saxon. Ensuite, je me demanderai si les approches sociologiques du care nous fournissent les instruments adéquats pour saisir chacune de ces deux conceptions. Ma discussion se limitera à une des acceptions centrales du care, car il existe bien sûr des nuances et des distinctions additionnelles mais elles touchent à des questions qui vont au-delà de cette brève contribution. Parmi les distinctions, celle que je commenterai est devenue me semble-t-il générique à la lumière des récents développements sur la nature du care. Un terme comme le « care », comme la plupart des termes linguistiques, est dynamique. On peut ainsi parler d'une histoire naturelle de ce terme, de son évolution dans le temps à la fois comme terme naturel et comme terme sociologique professionnel (cf. Rose, 1960). Le terme « care » est aussi polysémique, il revêt plusieurs sens, reliés par ce que le dernier Wittgenstein appelait des « ressemblances de famille » (cf. Heritage 1978). Se pose alors la question de savoir à quelle famille de termes care appartient. On trouve une idée analogue exprimée par Goffman lorsqu'il remarque : « Aujourd'hui les concepts sociologiques doivent être traités avec affection, chacun doit être resitué dans les contextes où ils s'appliquent le mieux, développé à partir de ce fond, où qu'ils nous mènent, de façon à révéler le reste de sa famille » (Goffman, 1961). On doit ajouter à cette citation que le terme lui-même n'est au fond qu'un terme sociologique naturel, utilisé dans des raisonnements de sens commun et dans des discours ordinaires. A quel endroit ce terme « s'applique le mieux », c'est une affaire de ressemblances de famille et son domaine de signification comme d'application évolue peu à peu. Les définitions professionnelles du care (qui couvrent aussi bien celles des sociologues traditionnels que des travailleurs sociaux) sont typiquement ancrées dans une famille naturelle, même lorsqu'elles tendent à être contestées. On s'occupera donc de la question de la « famille », ou « collection naturelle » de termes avec lesquels le care peut être associé (cf. « préoccupation », « attention », « conseil », « réhabilitation »).

Sociological Journal, 2006

The paper considers how ethnomethodology can help in sociological understanding of the practices ... more The paper considers how ethnomethodology can help in sociological understanding of the practices of creating and reading different kinds of texts in everyday, routine settings. First, it makes visible the ordinary, taken-for-granted texts in everyday life and illustrates how these texts are features of local, situated contexts and courses of action. The text, then, ceases to be treated by analysts (following lay members) as either (a) a transparent, unproblematic conduit to the world of objectively-given objects beyond that text or (b) as coterminous with that world of objectively-given objects, as simply "adhering" to those objects. Secondly, it treats the text as an evolved production, a production with its own "natural history" of production practices and which possesses what can be called its own "active" properties. Thirdly, the paper highlights the "activation" or "animation" of the text through the practices of reading in part...

Cahiers de praxématique, Nov 1, 2008

This paper is only a first move towards a more developed critique. It is still piecemeal and cont... more This paper is only a first move towards a more developed critique. It is still piecemeal and contains lacunae. It will be devoted to an initial consideration of the implications of the making of collections of conversational data instances (or, more tellingly, 'data excerpts'), within the approach of Conversation(al) Analysis (CA). 'The' Comparative Method is very much the method of CA's alternate, Formal-Analytic (FA) Sociology. FA comprises the range of classical and orthodox sociologies that are committed, by and large, to some version of neo-Kantian epistemology, and an associated commitment to a project of literal description. Indeed, 'the' Comparative Method has often been taken as the core or even sole method of FA sociologies, their sine qua non. One question, then, concerning the making of comparison in CA is: can these be effectuated without concession to FA? Similar questions may be posed for CA practitioners in linguistics, given a virtually equivalent commitment to FA (and, certainly, Formalism), along with a concomitant commitment to comparative work, in that discipline. To these practitioners, however, I must say that the original relevances both of CA and EM are sociological. It . I wish to thank Bruno Bonu, coordinating editor of this special issue, for his patient guidance during trying times in the development of this paper. I wish also to thank the two anonymous reviewers for some particularly thoughtful and profound criticisms and suggestions. Errors that remain are mine.

Les auteurs considèrent que, pour Durkheim, la compréhension des faits sociaux exige le recours à... more Les auteurs considèrent que, pour Durkheim, la compréhension des faits sociaux exige le recours à un appareil théorique et méthodologique spécifique, ce qui, sur ce point, fait bien de lui le fondateur des approches centrées sur la morphologie sociale. S’il a insisté dans Les formes élémentaires de la vie religieuse sur le primat des pratiques, il n’a pas pour autant reconnu le caractère central de la disponibilité des faits sociaux et il a méconnu le caractère constitutif de la compétence sociologique pratique. On peut donc trouver des résonances durkheimiennes dans l’œuvre de Garfinkel mais, contrairement à ce que soutient Anne Rawls, les deux approches n’en sont pas moins fondamentalement opposées.The authors consider that Durkheim’s understanding of social demands a theoretical apparatus and a specific methodology : on this point, Durkheim can be considered the founder of approaches centred on social morphology. If he insisted on the primacy of practices in Elementary forms of religious life, he did not for all that recognize the importance of the availability of social facts or acknowledge the constitutive nature of practical sociological skills. One can therefore find Durkheimian echoes in Garfindkel’s work, but contrary to what Anne Rawls maintains, the two approaches are nevertheless fundamentally opposed

Les formes de l’action, 1990

Comment concevoir le rapport de l’action et de ses descriptions ? On est spontanément porté à voi... more Comment concevoir le rapport de l’action et de ses descriptions ? On est spontanément porté à voir le “faire” et le “dire” comme deux phénomènes différents et à les rapporter l’un à l’autre en termes de correspondance. Cet article critique cette manière de faire et propose de traiter le “dire” comme partie intégrante du “faire”. Cette critique est étayée sur une analyse de la façon dont les actions produisent elles-mêmes, comme composante de leur effectuation, la visibilité et la communicabilité de leur identité et de leur structure.How to conceive the relationship between action and its description ? Spontaneously we are led to see “doing” and “talking” as two different phenomena and to try to link them in terms of correspondence. This paper criticizes this model and proposes to analyze “talking” as part and parcel of “doing”. This proposal is based on an analysis of the way in which actions produce themselves, as a componant of their accomplishment, the visibility and communicability of their identity and structure.Wie kann man sich das Verhältnis zwischen der Handlung und ihren Beschreibungen vorstellen ? Spontan hat man Tendenz, dass Handeln und das Sprechen als zwei unterschiedenen Phänomene anzusehen und beide zueinander als korrespondierende Begriffe in Beziehung zu setzen. Der vorliegende Beitrag setzt sich kritisch mit dieser Vorgehensweise auseinander und schlägt vor, das Sprechen als integrierenden Bestandteil des Handelns anzusehen. Diese Kritik wird abgestützt durch eine Analyse der Art und Weise, wie die Handlungen, und zwar als Komponente ihrer Verwirklichung, die Sichtbarkeit und Kommunizierbarkeit ihrer Identität und Struktur selbst hervorbringen

This paper reports some (video-recorded) instances of ‘visual culture’ in action, namely the use ... more This paper reports some (video-recorded) instances of ‘visual culture’ in action, namely the use of a new software tool designed for the visualization of scenes from Shakespeare’s Macbeth in a classroom context. By considering whether or how far conversation analysis (CA) can be extended from natural conversation to cases of collaborative work in front of a computer, the paper addresses the methodological question of how to study instances of visual communication. We take as an exemplar the phenomenon of remedial action and discuss how the canonical study of repair in ordinary conversation (Schegloff, Sacks, and Jefferson, 1977) can be used to highlight aspects of ‘visual repair’ (the identification and remedying of items on the screen). Our attempts to apply the original CA model of repair of ordinary conversation highlight the differences of this setting, which constitutes an example of collaborative work.

In this position paper we outline the opportunities and challenges of pure asynchronous video mes... more In this position paper we outline the opportunities and challenges of pure asynchronous video messaging as an everyday utility. We recruited 53 users to try Skype Qik 'in the wild' for two weeks from its launch in October 2014. We found users orienting to an organizational principle that we term 'Me For You', a self-conscious yet creative orientation that allowed users to transform features of their everyday affairs into show-about-ables that can be subject to and warrant the interrogative gaze of a Qik recipient. We found that such acts implied a reciprocity that was valuable in some special contexts, while at other times proving dissonant with assumptions about mundane communicative practices between particular parties. To warrant another's gaze requires artfulness, but in some relationships one might not want to demand that artfulness in return. We argue that richness is not a matter of mode but of perceived control, within which the morality of gaze represent...

Theory, Culture & Society, 2008

In our Introduction to the articles in this Special Issue, the editors have set out some of the l... more In our Introduction to the articles in this Special Issue, the editors have set out some of the lineaments of the debate over cognitivistic conceptions of social phenomena. They have also set out to show that cognitivism, of at least a residual kind, is manifest in classical sociologies, and the position of some canonical authors is critically discussed. The article debates the analytic practices contributing to cognitivism in classical sociologies including the use of conceptual oppositions, decontextualizalion techniques and methodological irony. Using some resources derived from the latter philosophy of Wittgenstein and from ethnomethodology, an alternalive to cognitivisin is proposed.

Benjamins Current Topics, 2019

Visual Communication, 2009

This article reports some (video-recorded) instances of `visual culture' in action, namely th... more This article reports some (video-recorded) instances of `visual culture' in action, namely the use of a new software tool designed for the visualization of scenes from Shakespeare's Macbeth in a classroom context. By considering whether or how far conversation analysis (CA) can be extended from natural conversation to cases of collaborative work in front of a computer, the article addresses the methodological question of how to study instances of visual communication. We take as an exemplar the phenomenon of remedial action and discuss how Schegloff, Jefferson and Sacks's (1977) canonical study of repair in ordinary conversation can be used to highlight aspects of `visual repair' (the identification and remedying of items on the screen). Our attempts to apply the original CA model of repair of ordinary conversation highlight the differences of this setting, which constitutes an example of collaborative work.

Contents: Introduction The ethnomethodological analysis of texts and reading 'Going for broth... more Contents: Introduction The ethnomethodological analysis of texts and reading 'Going for brothers' in Black American speech: making textual sense of analytic observations of Black ghetto culture in the USA The textual representation of Nacirema culture The textual incarnation of sociological analysis: the case of Erving Goffman's writings Endnotes Bibliography Index.

Handbook of Pragmatics Highlights, 2009

Nature biotechnology, 1999

We have examined the suitability of the mouse mammary gland for expression of novel recombinant p... more We have examined the suitability of the mouse mammary gland for expression of novel recombinant procollagens that can be used for biomedical applications. We generated transgenic mouse lines containing cDNA constructs encoding recombinant procollagen, along with the alpha and beta subunits of prolyl 4-hydroxylase, an enzyme that modifies the collagen into a form that is stable at body temperature. The lines expressed relatively high levels (50-200 micrograms/ml) of recombinant procollagen in milk. As engineered, the recombinant procollagen was shortened and consisted of a pro alpha 2(I) chain capable of forming a triple-helical homotrimer not normally found in nature. Analysis of the product demonstrated that (1) the pro alpha chains formed disulphide-linked trimers, (2) the trimers contained a thermostable triple-helical domain, (3) the N-propeptides were aligned correctly, and (4) the expressed procollagen was not proteolytically processed to collagen in milk.