The Pursuit of Controversy

Routine Skepticism in Talk on 'Talk Radio

Bibliographic Data

ID2327218
AuthorsI Hutchby (0000-0002-8469-1667, corresponding author)
Year1992
Volume26
Issue4
Pages673-694
Publication date1992-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSociology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0038-0385 • E-ISSN: 1469-8684
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0038038592026004008
OpenAlexW2092460253
LanguageEN
Citations received31
References cited19

Resources for arguing are examined in talk on 'talk radio', a cultural setting for which disputation is a routine activity. A contrastive device built to the format you say X, but what about Y is shown to be an important, recursively deployed linguistic resource for the accomplishment of such routine disputation. Aspects of the interactional work achieved with this device are discussed in relation to the setting-specific activity of 'arguing for arguing's sake', which is referred to as the pursuit of controversy. The device facilitates the construction by a contentious party of an argument out of the minor details of an opponent's account. It is seen that both hosts and callers in this setting orient to the efficaciousness of the format as a resource for doing argument. Episodes are also examined in which callers try to restrict the damage which hosts routinely seek to inflict on their claims through the use of the device

Adversary · Argument (complex analysis) · Computer security · Epistemology · Law and economics · Political science · Relation (database) · Resource (disambiguation) · Skepticism · Sociology · Computer Science · Digital Communication and Language · Discourse Analysis in Language Studies · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Law · Medicine · Philosophy