Miriam A. Locher, Power and politeness in action:
Disagreements in oral communication. Language, Power and Social
Process, 12. Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 2004. Pp. xvi, 365.
Pb.
This is a study of the interface between power and politeness as
manifested in verbal disagreements. It begins with a number of chapters
devoted to a discussion of the key concepts that define the author's
theoretical conceptualization of social interaction. These concepts are
power, communication, relational work, and politeness. The author then
applies the model to four (transcribed) interactions. The first, and most
extensively analyzed, is a dinner conversation among friends and
acquaintances. The second is an organizational meeting in a physics
laboratory. The final two come from official transcripts of a radio
interview of President Clinton and Supreme Court proceedings relating to
the vote count in the U.S presidential elections of 2000. Common to them
all, in the author's view, are instances of disagreement.