Conversational Realities: Constructing Life through Language (Inquiries in Social Construction series)

John Shotter

ISBN 10: 0803989334 / ISBN 13: 9780803989337

Published by Sage Publications, Incorporated 20/01/1994, 1994

About this Item

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: Conversational Realities: Constructing Life through Language (Inquiries in Social Construction series)
• Publisher: Sage Publications, Incorporated 20/01/1994
• Publication Date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0803989334
• ISBN 13: 9780803989337
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: Very Good

About this title

Synopsis

"This book is fascinating and--eventually--might prove very valuable for those concerned with SLA." --Studies in Second Language Acquisition Imaginative and original, Conversational Realities claims that psychological and sociological "realities" are both socially constructed and sustained within the context of our everyday conversation. In this interdisciplinary analysis, John Shotter highlights the socially contested--but imaginary--nature of the "things" we talk about in our social lives and throws light on the construction processes of these "things." Using interesting examples from psychotherapy, management, and everyday life, the author offers a broad-ranging exploration of the rhetorical, argumentative nature of conversational communication. Conversational Realities should be read by academics and students of psychology, communication studies, linguistics, and sociology.

Review

`I like this book, will recommend it to colleagues and students, and expect it to become a staple citation in articles and books I publish... Sometimes books an academic reads enable a person to make connections among previously disconnected pieces of experience, recurring preferences and passions, and particular life decisions. Reading Conversational Realities accomplished this for me... it is theoretically rich, philosophically thoughtful and experientially evocative′ - Human Studies

`[An] immensely thoughtful, informative and persuasive treatment of the "rhetorical-responsive version of social constructionism" via an eclectic blend of, principally, European and American linguistics, philosophy and social psychology... Shotter′s book is most important for continuing the work begun by Billig and others bringing recognition via recollection to the rhetorical corpus. He claims to target his recovery of these materials toward psychologists; readers in related disciplines will certainly also benefit′ - Discourse & Society

`This book is fascinating... It is important for several reasons. First, it provides an overview of an approach to the social sciences known as social constructionism... Second, Shotter maintains that the fundamental human reality is persons in conversations... Third, Shotter is concerned with practical implications, not just theoretical conceptions′ - Studies in Second Language Acquisition