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Institutional Interaction: Struggles over Knowledge and Legitimacy

Tuesday, 17 July 2018: 08:30-10:20
Location: 717A (MTCC SOUTH BUILDING)
RC25 Language and Society (host committee)

Language: English

Language is a vital medium for action in institutional environments. Institutions are talked or written into being as institutional tasks are carried out and institutional identities are accomplished. This session focuses on the social organization of interaction in institutional settings, including issues such as social categories, asymmetric relationships, and struggles over knowledge and legitimacy. The session thus engages with the research committee’s thematic focus on ‘the power of language’ by applying a bottom-up perspective, emphasizing the flexible use of linguistic resources (such as grammar and lexical choice) for negotiating institutional matters such as entitlement and justice. The session aims to increase our understanding of institutional practice by examining in detail how events unfold, how meaning is established and how language is systematically used to particular ends across institutional contexts. Interactions of interest could for instance be encounters between clients and professionals, or intra-organizational work among professionals, rendering visible processes of conflict and collaboration. Contributions that make use of naturally occurring data are especially encouraged.
Session Organizer:
Marie FLINKFELDT, Uppsala University, Sweden
Oral Presentations
Speaking for the Client: Talk and Silence in Homeless Casework
Nanna MIK-MEYER, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark; David SILVERMAN, Goldsmith, London, United Kingdom
Things Matter: Landscapes of Education As Spheres of Influence
Timo SAVELA, University of Turku, Finland
Distributed Papers
Politics in Science: A Struggle for Legitimacy in the Production of Knowledge By a Pseudoscientific Theory
Timothy WILSON, University of Turku, Finland; Attila KRIZSÁN, University of Turku, Finland