scholarly journals When the Body Belies the Words: Embodied Agency With darf/kann ich? (“May/Can I?”) in German

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arnulf Deppermann ◽  
Alexandra Gubina
Keyword(s):  
Social Action ◽  
Multimodal Interaction ◽  
The Body ◽  
Perceptual Salience ◽  
Temporal Relationships ◽  
Sequential Organization ◽  
Main Verb ◽  
Embodied Action ◽  
Embodied Agency

Research on multimodal interaction has shown that simultaneity of embodied behavior and talk is constitutive for social action. In this study, we demonstrate different temporal relationships between verbal and embodied actions. We focus on uses of German darf/kann ich? (“may/can I?”) in which speakers initiate, or even complete the embodied action that is addressed by the turn before the recipient's response. We argue that through such embodied conduct, the speaker bodily enacts high agency, which is at odds with the low deontic stance they express through their darf/kann ich?-TCUs. In doing so, speakers presuppose that the intersubjective permissibility of the action is highly probable or even certain. Moreover, we demonstrate how the speaker's embodied action, joint perceptual salience of referents, and the projectability of the action addressed with darf/kann ich? allow for a lean syntactic design of darf/kann ich?-TCUs (i.e., pronominalization, object omission, and main verb omission). Our findings underscore the reflexive relationship between lean syntax, sequential organization and multimodal conduct.

The Two Traditions in the Sociology of Emotions

2002 ◽  
Vol 50 (2_suppl) ◽  
pp. 10-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Shilling
Keyword(s):  
Social Action ◽  
Sociological Theory ◽  
The Body ◽  
Sociology Of Emotions ◽  
Important Place ◽  
Brief Assessment ◽  
The Social ◽  
Moral Dimensions ◽  
Emotional Issues ◽  
The Relationship

The sociology of emotions is an established specialism within the discipline and its products have become increasingly visible parts of the sociological landscape since the late 1970s. This specialism has also demonstrated, at least to its own satisfaction, the importance of emotions for social action and order, and for those related moral issues concerned with self-determined and other-oriented action. Paradoxically, however, the relationship between the sociology of emotions and mainstream sociology remains relatively cool. Emotional issues are still portrayed in many general accounts of the discipline as a luxurious curiosity that properly resides on the outer reaches of the sociological imagination. Just as unfortunately, certain sociologists of emotions have accused the foundations of the discipline of neglecting emotional issues, and have sometimes excluded classical theorists from their discussions. This chapter argues that emotional phenomena occupy an important place in sociology's heritage which has yet to be explicated fully by the sub-discipline. The subject of emotions, like the closely related subject of the body, may fade from various classical writings. Nevertheless, the major traditions of sociological theory developed particular orientations towards the social and moral dimensions of emotional phenomena. I begin by examining the relevance of emotions to the context out of which the discipline emerged, and then focus on how the major theorists of order (Comte and Durkheim) and (inter)action (Simmel and Weber) conceptualized emotional phenomena. The chapter concludes with a brief assessment of Parsons's contribution, and suggests that his analysis of the religious foundations of instrumental activism provides a provocative account of the relationship between values, emotions and personality that can usefully be built on.

Conclusion

2019 ◽  
pp. 181-184
Author(s):  
Alex C. Purves
Keyword(s):  
The Body ◽  
Oral Poetry ◽  
Capacity To Act ◽  
The Aesthetic ◽  
Embodied Action

This conclusion briefly restates the argument of the book and considers the broader implications of studying Homeric formularity and agency through embodied action. It places in juxtaposition the kinetic reflexes of the hero and the aesthetic reflexes of the poet, in an attempt to open up new ways of reading literature through and within the body. The result is a book that thinks in new terms about epic repetition and the actions of Homeric characters within the constraints of oral poetry. I end the conclusion by suggesting that gesture’s quiet capacity to act on its own accord and to exhibit its own form of autonomy leads to novel possibilities for our consideration of Homeric character and agency.

Project as Social Action: the Art of Moving the Boundary of the Body

2009 ◽  
pp. 169-187
Author(s):  
Giovanni Maciocco ◽  
Silvano Tagliagambe
Keyword(s):  
Social Action ◽  
The Body

scholarly journals Greetings as social action in Finland Swedish and Sweden Swedish service encounters – a pluricentric perspective

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenny Nilsson ◽  
Stefan Norrthon ◽  
Jan Lindström ◽  
Camilla Wide
Keyword(s):  
Social Action ◽  
Service Encounters ◽  
Gaze Behavior ◽  
Data Share ◽  
Cross Cultural Differences ◽  
Greeting Behavior ◽  
Mutual Gaze ◽  
Sequential Organization ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
Swedish Data

Abstract While greetings are performed in all cultures and open most conversations, previous studies suggest that there are cross-cultural differences between different languages in greeting behavior. But do speakers of different national varieties of the same language organize and perform their greeting behavior in similar ways? In this study, we investigate the sequential organization of greetings in relation to gaze behavior in the two national varieties of Swedish: Sweden Swedish spoken in Sweden and Finland Swedish spoken in Finland. In recent years, the importance of studying pluricentric languages from a pragmatic perspective has been foregrounded, not least within the framework of variational pragmatics. To date, most studies have focused on structural differences between national varieties of pluricentric languages. With this study, we extend the scope of variational pragmatics through adding an interactional, micro perspective to the broader macro analysis typical of this field. For this study, we have analyzed patterns for greetings in 297 video-recorded service encounters, where staff and customers interact at theatre box offices and event booking venues in Sweden and Finland. The study shows that there are similarities and differences in greeting behavior between varieties. There is a strong preference for exchanging reciprocal verbal greetings, one at a time, in both. There is also a similar organization of the greeting sequence, where customer and staff establish mutual gaze prior to the verbal greetings, thus signaling availability for interaction. The duration of mutual gaze and the timing of the greeting, however, differ between the two varieties. We have also conducted a multi modal analysis of gaze behavior in correlation to the greeting. We found that the customers and staff in the Finland Swedish data share mutual gaze before and during the verbal greeting, and often avert gaze after the verbal greetings. However, in the Sweden Swedish data, the participants often avert gaze before the verbal greetings. Our results thus indicate that both similarities and differences in pragmatic routines and bodily behavior exist between the two national varieties of Swedish. The present study on greeting practices in Finland Swedish and Sweden Swedish should contribute to the field of variational pragmatics and to the development of pluricentric theory.

scholarly journals Flesh-and-blood knowing

2019 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 371-383 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcelo de Souza Bispo ◽  
Silvia Gherardi
Keyword(s):  
Social Action ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
The Body ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Comprehensive Literature Review ◽  
Practice Based Research ◽  
New Research ◽  
Embodied Practice ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose This paper aims to offer a perspective to interpret qualitative data drawing on the introduction of the notion of “embodied practice-based research”. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on a comprehensive literature review to support a meta-theoretical approach, we developed a theoretical essay. Findings The body is not only a field of studies but a mean of study as well. The embodied practice-based research is an inquiry style to access the tacit texture of social action and cognition. Practical implications Embodied practice-based research may impact qualitative researchers’ education and the way to report methodological proceedings and data report. Originality/value The core contribution of the paper is the introduction of a new research style able to change how researchers’ bodies may be used in qualitative management research.

scholarly journals Action in action research

2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 118-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulf Melin ◽  
Karin Axelsson
Keyword(s):  
Information Systems ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Social Action ◽  
The Body ◽  
Service Development ◽  
Action Research Project ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Dynamic Activity ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Systems Research

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to elaborate on the concept of action by addressing actions and roles in the practice of action research, illustrated by dilemmas in an action research project on information systems development in public sector. The main ambition with action research is being able to solve organisational problems through intervention and to contribute to scientific knowledge. The main emphasis has so far been on the “research part”. Here the authors focus on the “action part” of action research to generate rigorous research, to solve local problems and to deal with evident dilemmas in action research. Design/methodology/approach This is a qualitative case study. The empirical illustrations of this paper originate from an action research project that focused the two e-service development initiatives analysed below. The analysis is structured using key aspects and phases proposed by Avison et al. (2001). As a result of the analysis, the concept of action is elaborated. The action elements action, actor, motive, space and time are analysed together with different roles. This goes beyond the existing action research literature. Findings The conclusions show that there is a need to understand actions and roles within action research projects – not separating action from research. Research is also seen as action. The practice of action research is also discussed as context-bounded interactive social action: action research as a recurrent, interactive and dynamic activity. It is also identified that the understanding of roles, actions and interaction can help handle dilemmas in action research. Research Limitations/implications The authors contribute to the body of knowledge concerning action research in the information systems research field and in general by exploring the need to study the concept of action (e.g. situations and elements), to be explicit concerning the different phases, roles and responsibilities and management of different dilemmas in action research. A limitation of this study is that the inter-organisational development character in this study adds an extra dimension into the practice of actions research only partially highlighted. Another limitation is focus on public agencies. However, this is not critical for the results on action elements and the action research dilemmas that are studied. Practical Implications The understanding of roles, actions and interaction can solve the dilemmas and challenges linked to the practice of action research in the information systems field, but such understanding can help discover and handle dilemmas in action research. Originality/value The originality in this research is an illustration of and a perspective of action research as a context-bounded interactive social action: action research as a recurrent, interactive and dynamic activity. The value is that this knowledge can help handle dilemmas in action research.

scholarly journals Vestibular–Somatosensory Interactions: A Mechanism in Search of a Function?

2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 559-579 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisa Raffaella Ferrè ◽  
Patrick Haggard
Keyword(s):  
Multimodal Interaction ◽  
The Body ◽  
Multimodal Integration ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Vestibular Cortex ◽  
Sensory Modalities ◽  
Multisensory Interactions ◽  
Psychophysical Studies ◽  
By Products ◽  
Individual Body

No unimodal vestibular cortex has been identified in the human brain. Rather, vestibular inputs are strongly integrated with signals from other sensory modalities, such as vision, touch and proprioception. This convergence could reflect an important mechanism for maintaining a perception of the body, including individual body parts, relative to the rest of the environment. Neuroimaging, electrophysiological and psychophysical studies showed evidence for multisensory interactions between vestibular and somatosensory signals. However, no convincing overall theoretical framework has been proposed for vestibular–somatosensory interactions, and it remains unclear whether such percepts are by-products of neural convergence, or a functional multimodal integration. Here we review the current literature on vestibular–multisensory interactions in order to develop a framework for understanding the functions of such multimodal interaction. We propose that the target of vestibular–somatosensory interactions is a form of self-representation.

scholarly journals Sport as Culture: Social class, styles of cultural consumption, and sports engagement in Canada

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Gemar
Keyword(s):  
Social Action ◽  
Social Stratification ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Social Inequalities ◽  
Sex Differentiation ◽  
Sports Participation ◽  
The Body ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Sports Consumption ◽  
The Relationship

The consumption of culture has often been ascribed the power to reflect and reproduce social inequalities. However, most work in this area has focused upon music and the arts. Sport is an important element of culture that can and should be studied in a similar fashion as others (Bourdieu, 1978). This thesis thus seeks to bring the theoretical frameworks and analytical tools of sociologies of culture further into the realm of sport. Substantively, this thesis provides an updated and comprehensive re-examining of the relationship between direct sports participation and social stratification in the relatively unexplored national context of Canada. I also innovatively provide an examination of the relationship between social stratification and professional sports consumption. Finally, this thesis fills a gap in the literature by analysing where the consumption of sport fits within broader cultural lifestyles. For these investigations, I use large-scale survey data and various statistical methods to test the foundational theories of Pierre Bourdieu, the ‘omnivore’ thesis, and individualisation arguments of social action to explain these patterns. The findings show direct sports participation relying primarily on dispositions towards the body which are stratified by education and income, especially for the most elite sports. They also show the two most selective omnivorous profiles for professional sport, rather than the most omnivorous, with the highest levels of education and income. This thesis thus sheds doubt on the omnivore thesis within sport, while also showing elements of individualisation regarding age and sex differentiation in consumption. Sports consumption in Canada thus cuts across all three theories of the relation between socio-economic position and sport. These more delimitated consumption profiles contrast with the general adherence to the omnivore thesis within broader cultural lifestyles. This therefore suggests that sport may be a cultural domain where general omnivores practise more distinctive consumption.

Eating to become ‘good’ citizens: exploring the visceral biopolitics of eating in Singapore

2021 ◽  
pp. 147447402110650
Author(s):  
Siew Ying Shee
Keyword(s):  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Political Action ◽  
The Body ◽  
Effect Change ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
Consumer Agency ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
A Site ◽  
Self Formation ◽  
Embodied Agency

This paper develops a more-than-representational approach to consumer agency in food biopolitics that is sensitive to people’s everyday eating experiences. In recent years, studies of food biopolitics have engaged with questions of agency by examining how socially constructed ideas of ‘good’ eating and citizenship are engaged on the ground. Yet, there remain opportunities to depart from the evaluative mind as a dominant site of ethical self-formation, and engage with the body as a site of political action and agency. In this paper, I argue that people’s sense of citizen selves has long been, and continue to be, organised across the interplay of material, discursive, and visceral spaces of eating. I develop this argument by drawing on a critical analysis of historical and contemporary news forums related to public eating in Singapore. For many consumers, their disdain for certain food—ranging from the erstwhile state-vaunted meal plans to leftover food on public dining tables—express an embodied agency in negotiating the technocratic designs of citizenship. In developing a visceral biopolitics of eating, this paper aims to expand understandings of consumers’ capacity in negotiating the ethical tensions between hegemonic imaginings of ‘good’ citizens and the everyday pleasures of eating. Approaching consumer agency this way orientates critical yet oft-overlooked attention to the body’s capacity to act, and possibly effect change, within the broader workings of dietary bio-power.

From Inscribed Bodies to Distributed Persons: Contextualizing Tairona Figural Images in Performance

2003 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew G. Looper
Keyword(s):  
Human Body ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Archaeological Site ◽  
The Body ◽  
Sacred Spaces ◽  
Mind And Body ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Art And Architecture ◽  
Ceremonial Architecture

Following trends in anthropology, the human body has recently become an important topic of discourse in archaeology. While some anthropologists consider the body as a social metaphor or site of symbolic inscription, others have questioned the validity of approaches based on the dichotomization and hierarchization of the mind and body. Semasiology, in particular, offers an epistemologically sound basis for interpreting the body, by grounding agency in the socially-structured actions that constitute corporeal space. This article applies the semasiological concept of the action-sign to archaeological problems through an examination of the interrelationship between Tairona anthropomorphic imagery and remains of ceremonial architecture at Pueblito, an archaeological site in Colombia. In both cases, physical remains constitute the traces of the actions through which agential persons created sacred spaces, and the meanings of these spaces may be more fully reconstructed by comparing diverse modes of embodiment. Tairona figural art and architecture constitute a creative technology, serving as an indexically-bound nexus of embodied social action.

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