Staging social aggression
Affective stances and moral character work in girls’ gossip telling
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/rcsi.32351Keywords:
girls, peer group interaction, effect, stance, membership categories, gossip, storytellingAbstract
Drawing on ethnomethodological conversation analysis integrated with ethnographic approaches, we examine the organizing force and normative character of anger and aggression as jointly configured in the affective stances and moral actions displayed in the sequential and sociocultural context of an elaborated gossip event. Analytic attention is on the constitutive role of affect displays and membership categorization in mobilizing negative affect and evaluative actions toward a targeted girl leading ultimately to direct and verbal and physical confrontations. The analysis highlights how collaboratively performed affect displays (high-pitched voices, exaggerated faces, response cries, bodily re-enactments, laughter) and animated performances intensify reported insults (actual and imagined) and negative categorization of person and thus are mobilized in taking up oppositional stances and strengthening in-group alignments. It is found that the moral status of the targeted girl as a familiar ‘offender’ is incorporated into the affective moral stances and negative membership categorizations displayed in the moment-to-moment interactions, which in turn affect how and why the particular girl, cumulatively and over time, becomes a customary target of the others’ verbal and physical aggression.
References
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Archer, J. & Coyne, S. (2005). An integrated review of indirect, relational, and social aggression. Personality and Social Psychology, 9(3), 212–230. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327957pspr0903_2
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Buttny, R. (1993). Social accountability in communication. London: Sage Publications.
Cairns, R., Cairns, B., Neckerman, H., Ferguson, L. & Gariepy, J. L. (1989). Growth and aggression: 1. Childhood to early adolescence. Developmental Psychology, 25(2), 320–330. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.25.2.320
Crick, N., Werner, N., Casas, J. F., O’Brien, K., Nelson, D., Grotpeter, J. & Markon, K. (1999). Childhood aggression and gender: A new look at an old problem. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press.
Du Bois, J. (2007). The stance triangle. In R. Englebretson (ed.), Stancetaking in discourse: Subjectivity, evaluation, interaction (pp. 139–182). Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Du Bois, J. & Kärkkäinenm, E. (2012). Taking a stance on emotion: affect, sequence, and intersubjectivity in dialogic interaction. Text and Talk, 32(4), 433–451.
Edwards, D. (2006). ‘To be honest’: Sequential uses of honesty phrases in talkin-interaction. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 39(4), 343–376. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327973rlsi3904_1
Evaldsson, A.-C. (2002). Boys’ gossip telling: Staging identities and indexing (unacceptable) masculine behavior. Text, 22(2), 1–27. https://doi.org/10.1515/text.2002.008
Evaldsson, A.-C. (2007). Accounting for friendship: Moral ordering and category membership in preadolescent girls’ relational talk. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 40(4), 377–404. https://doi.org/10.1080/08351810701471377
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Garfinkel, H. (1956). Conditions of successful degradation ceremonies. American Journal of Sociology, 61(5), 420–424. https://doi.org/10.1086/221800
Goffman, E. (1974). Frame analysis: An essay on the organization of the experience. NewYork: Harper Colophon.
Goffman, E. (1981). Forms of talk. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Goodwin, C. (2000). Action and embodiment within situated human interaction. Journal of Pragmatics, 32(10), 1489–1522.
Goodwin, C. (2006). Retrospective and prospective orientation in the construction of argumentative moves. Text and Talk, 26(4–5), 443–461. https://doi.org/10.1515/TEXT.2006.018
Goodwin, M. H. (1990). He-said-she-said: Talk as social organization among black children. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
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Goodwin, M. H. & Alim, S. (2010). ‘Whatever (neck roll, eye roll, teeth suck)’: The situated coproduction of social categories and identities through stancetaking and transmodal stylization. Linguistic Anthropology, 20(1), 179–194. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-1395.2010.01056.x
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Goodwin, M. H., Cekaite, A. & Goodwin, C. (2012). Emotion as stance. In A. Peräkylä & M. L. Sorjonen (eds), Emotion in interaction (pp. 16–41). Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199730735.003.0002
Heritage, J. (2002). The limits of questioning: Negative interrogatives and hostile question content. Journal of Pragmatics, 34, 1427–1446. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0378-2166(02)00072-3
Jaffe, A. (2009). Stance: Sociolinguistic perspectives. Oxford Studies in Sociolinguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195331646.001.0001
Ochs, E. & Schieffelin, B. (1989). Language has a heart. Text, 9(1): 7–25. https://doi.org/10.1515/text.1.1989.9.1.7
Pomerantz, A. (1986). Extreme case formulations: A way of legitimizing claims. Human Studies, 9: 219–229. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00148128
Ringrose, J. & Renold, E. (2010). Normative cruelties and gender deviants: The performative effects of bully discourses for girls and boys in school. British Educational Research Journal, 36(4), 573–596. https://doi.org/10.1080/01411920903018117
Ringrose, J. & Renold, E. (2012). Slut-shaming, girl power and ‘sexualisation’: Thinking through the politics of the international SlutWalks with teen girls, Gender and Education, 24(3), 333–343. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2011.645023
Sacks, H. (1972). On the analyzability of stories by children. In J. Gumperz & D. Hymes (eds), Directions in sociolinguistics: The ethnography of communication (pp. 325–345). New York: Rinehart & Winston.
Sacks, H. (1992). Lectures on conversation vol I & II. Oxford: Blackwell.
Shuman, A. (1986). Storytelling rights: The uses of oral and written texts by urban adolescents. Cambridge Studies in Oral and Literate Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511983252
Sorjonen, M.-L. & Peräkylä, A. (2012). Introduction. In A. Peräkylä & M.-L. Sorjonen (eds), Emotion in interaction (pp. 3–15). Oxford Studies in Sociolinguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Stivers, T. (2008). Stance, alignment and affiliation during story telling: When nodding is a token of preliminary affiliation. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 41(1), 29–55. https://doi.org/10.1080/08351810701691123
Svahn, J. (2012). The everyday practice of school bullying: Children’s participation in peer group activities and school-based anti-bullying initiatives. Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis 123. Uppsala: Uppsala University.
Svahn, J., & Evaldsson, A.-C. (2011). ‘You could just ignore me’: Situating peer exclusion within the contingencies of girls’ everyday interactional practices. Childhood, 18(4), 491–508.
Theobald, M. & Reynolds, E. (2015). In pursuit of some appreciation: Assessment and group membership in children’s second stories. Text and Talk, 35(3), 407–430. https://doi.org/10.1515/text-2015-0006
Wetherell, M. (2012). Affect and emotion: A new social science understanding. London: Sage Publications. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781446250945
Antaki, C., Condor, S. & Levine, M. (1996). Social identities in talk: Speakers’ own orientations. British Journal of Social Psychology, 35, 473–492. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8309.1996.tb01109.x
Archer, J. & Coyne, S. (2005). An integrated review of indirect, relational, and social aggression. Personality and Social Psychology, 9(3), 212–230. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327957pspr0903_2
Björkqvist, K., Österman, K. & Kaukiainen, A. (1992). The development of direct and indirect aggressive strategies in males and females. In K Björkqvist & P Niemelä (eds), Of mice and women: Aspects of female aggression (pp. 51–64). San Diego, CA: Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-102590-8.50010-6
Brown, L. M. (2005). Girlfighting: Betrayal and rejection among girls. New York: New York University Press.
Brown, L. M. & Chesney-Lind, M. (2005). Growing up mean: Covert aggression and the policing of girlhood. In G. Lloyd (ed.), Problem girls: Understanding and working with the troubled and troublesome (pp. 74–86). New York: Routledge Falmer. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203465189_chapter_6
Buttny, R. (1993). Social accountability in communication. London: Sage Publications.
Cairns, R., Cairns, B., Neckerman, H., Ferguson, L. & Gariepy, J. L. (1989). Growth and aggression: 1. Childhood to early adolescence. Developmental Psychology, 25(2), 320–330. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.25.2.320
Crick, N., Werner, N., Casas, J. F., O’Brien, K., Nelson, D., Grotpeter, J. & Markon, K. (1999). Childhood aggression and gender: A new look at an old problem. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press.
Du Bois, J. (2007). The stance triangle. In R. Englebretson (ed.), Stancetaking in discourse: Subjectivity, evaluation, interaction (pp. 139–182). Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Du Bois, J. & Kärkkäinenm, E. (2012). Taking a stance on emotion: affect, sequence, and intersubjectivity in dialogic interaction. Text and Talk, 32(4), 433–451.
Edwards, D. (2006). ‘To be honest’: Sequential uses of honesty phrases in talkin-interaction. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 39(4), 343–376. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327973rlsi3904_1
Evaldsson, A.-C. (2002). Boys’ gossip telling: Staging identities and indexing (unacceptable) masculine behavior. Text, 22(2), 1–27. https://doi.org/10.1515/text.2002.008
Evaldsson, A.-C. (2007). Accounting for friendship: Moral ordering and category membership in preadolescent girls’ relational talk. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 40(4), 377–404. https://doi.org/10.1080/08351810701471377
Evaldsson, A.-C. & Svahn, J. (2012). School bullying and the micro-politics of girls’ gossip telling. In S. Danby & M. Theobold (eds), Disputes in everyday life: Social and moral orders of children and young people (pp. 297–322). Bingley: Emerald.
Garfinkel, H. (1956). Conditions of successful degradation ceremonies. American Journal of Sociology, 61(5), 420–424. https://doi.org/10.1086/221800
Goffman, E. (1974). Frame analysis: An essay on the organization of the experience. NewYork: Harper Colophon.
Goffman, E. (1981). Forms of talk. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Goodwin, C. (2000). Action and embodiment within situated human interaction. Journal of Pragmatics, 32(10), 1489–1522.
Goodwin, C. (2006). Retrospective and prospective orientation in the construction of argumentative moves. Text and Talk, 26(4–5), 443–461. https://doi.org/10.1515/TEXT.2006.018
Goodwin, M. H. (1990). He-said-she-said: Talk as social organization among black children. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
Goodwin, M. H. (2006). The hidden life of girls: Games of stance, status, and exclusion. Oxford: Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470773567
Goodwin, M. H. & Alim, S. (2010). ‘Whatever (neck roll, eye roll, teeth suck)’: The situated coproduction of social categories and identities through stancetaking and transmodal stylization. Linguistic Anthropology, 20(1), 179–194. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-1395.2010.01056.x
Goodwin, M. H. & Goodwin, C. (2000). Emotion within situated activity. In N. Budwig, I. C. Uzgiris & J. V. Wertsch (eds), Communication: An arena of development (pp. 33–54). Stamford, CT: Ablex Publishing Corporation.
Goodwin, M. H. & Kyratzis, A. (2014). Peer socialization. In A. Duranti, E. Ochs & B. Schieffelin (eds), The handbook of language socialization (pp. 365–390). Malden, MA: Wiley Blackwell.
Goodwin, M. H., Cekaite, A. & Goodwin, C. (2012). Emotion as stance. In A. Peräkylä & M. L. Sorjonen (eds), Emotion in interaction (pp. 16–41). Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199730735.003.0002
Heritage, J. (2002). The limits of questioning: Negative interrogatives and hostile question content. Journal of Pragmatics, 34, 1427–1446. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0378-2166(02)00072-3
Jaffe, A. (2009). Stance: Sociolinguistic perspectives. Oxford Studies in Sociolinguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195331646.001.0001
Ochs, E. & Schieffelin, B. (1989). Language has a heart. Text, 9(1): 7–25. https://doi.org/10.1515/text.1.1989.9.1.7
Pomerantz, A. (1986). Extreme case formulations: A way of legitimizing claims. Human Studies, 9: 219–229. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00148128
Ringrose, J. & Renold, E. (2010). Normative cruelties and gender deviants: The performative effects of bully discourses for girls and boys in school. British Educational Research Journal, 36(4), 573–596. https://doi.org/10.1080/01411920903018117
Ringrose, J. & Renold, E. (2012). Slut-shaming, girl power and ‘sexualisation’: Thinking through the politics of the international SlutWalks with teen girls, Gender and Education, 24(3), 333–343. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2011.645023
Sacks, H. (1972). On the analyzability of stories by children. In J. Gumperz & D. Hymes (eds), Directions in sociolinguistics: The ethnography of communication (pp. 325–345). New York: Rinehart & Winston.
Sacks, H. (1992). Lectures on conversation vol I & II. Oxford: Blackwell.
Shuman, A. (1986). Storytelling rights: The uses of oral and written texts by urban adolescents. Cambridge Studies in Oral and Literate Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511983252
Sorjonen, M.-L. & Peräkylä, A. (2012). Introduction. In A. Peräkylä & M.-L. Sorjonen (eds), Emotion in interaction (pp. 3–15). Oxford Studies in Sociolinguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Stivers, T. (2008). Stance, alignment and affiliation during story telling: When nodding is a token of preliminary affiliation. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 41(1), 29–55. https://doi.org/10.1080/08351810701691123
Svahn, J. (2012). The everyday practice of school bullying: Children’s participation in peer group activities and school-based anti-bullying initiatives. Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis 123. Uppsala: Uppsala University.
Svahn, J., & Evaldsson, A.-C. (2011). ‘You could just ignore me’: Situating peer exclusion within the contingencies of girls’ everyday interactional practices. Childhood, 18(4), 491–508.
Theobald, M. & Reynolds, E. (2015). In pursuit of some appreciation: Assessment and group membership in children’s second stories. Text and Talk, 35(3), 407–430. https://doi.org/10.1515/text-2015-0006
Wetherell, M. (2012). Affect and emotion: A new social science understanding. London: Sage Publications. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781446250945
Published
2017-06-15
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Evaldsson, A.-C., & svahn, J. (2017). Staging social aggression: Affective stances and moral character work in girls’ gossip telling. Research on Children and Social Interaction, 1(1), 77-104. https://doi.org/10.1558/rcsi.32351
