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4 - Action Ascription, Accountability and Inference

from Part I - Constituents of Action Ascription

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2022

By
Michael Haugh
Edited by
Arnulf Deppermann  and
Michael Haugh
Arnulf Deppermann
Affiliation:
Universität Mannheim, Germany
Michael Haugh
Affiliation:
University of Queensland
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Summary

It is increasingly recognised that action ascription is not just a matter of inference, but is a form of social action in its own right. This chapter explores two key implications of this finding. First, in treating action ascription as a social action we have formal grounds for the claim that analyses of action ascription must necessarily include inspection of third positioned actions, as ascribing action is an account-able action in its own right. Second, we have procedural grounds for examining the suppression or avoidance of inferences about the action(s) in question by participants. A collection of instances of ‘offers’ that are occasioned or ‘touched off’ by some prior action, and are variously designed to be heard as such, are analysed in the course of this chapter to provide an empirical anchor for these two theoretical claims.

Keywords

action ascriptionaccountabilityinferenceoffersrecruitmentshints
Type
Chapter
Information
Action Ascription in Interaction , pp. 81 - 104
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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