Sue Widdicombe
Biographic Data
| ID | 655606 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Sue Widdicombe |
| GIVEN NAMES | Sue |
| FAMILY NAME | Widdicombe |
| SIGNATURE | WIDDICOMBE S |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Edinburgh |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-1782-2946 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 18 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 76 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 18 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1988 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Football Clubs as Identity Leaders: Communication and Club Action on Fan‐Club Relationships
Supporting a football club can provide a sense of belonging to fans; however, fan‐club relationships are complex and under‐examined within social psychology. This study used an identity leadership perspective to explore football fans' feelings about their relationships with their clubs and what they feel contributes to these relationships. Semi‐structured interviews ( N = 15) were conducted with fans from three clubs ( n = 5 per club) across diff…
Generating positive self-descriptions in a research context: A discursive psychological and conversation analysis of interview products and practices
Interview research has been criticised because analysts often focus on interviewees’ talk and overlook the interviewer’s role in its production. This study uses conversation (CA) and discursive psychological (DP) analysis to examine interviews with Syrian and UK participants. It asks what conclusions can be drawn about their positive self-descriptions when analysis attends simultaneously to the sequences of turns and practices within and through …
Rather uncharacteristic of an Englishman to criticise plain food: Invoking category entitlements in food assessments
Discursive psychologists have shown how food assessments serve a variety of functions during mealtime interactions. Anthropological studies attest to the cultural significance of food and eating practices as reported through interviews and ethnographies. This study extends these literatures by studying food assessment in small talk on a social media platform. The data comprised 53 posts selected from an extended discussion on Twitter of a traditi…
Doing patient-centredness versus achieving public health targets: A critical review of interactional dilemmas in ART adherence support
The delicate business of identity
Identity has often been approached by asking questions about it in interviews. However, speakers sometimes reject, resist or modify category membership because of the sensitive inferential and interactional issues invoked. This article aims to provide a systematic analysis of category-eliciting question-answer (Q-A) sequences from a large corpus of Syrian interview data concerning several identities. Using conversation and membership categorisati…
‘I was bored so…’: Motivational accounts of participation in an online emo group
We examine members' spontaneous accounts for joining and participating in an online emo forum. The Internet and social networking sites are central features of contemporary youth cultures; the analysis of interaction on emo forums can thus provide a way of appreciating emo as a ‘Community in Practice’. We analyse popular discussion threads collected from a key emo website, using membership categorisation and conversation analysis. In these thread…
I am a Believer but not a Conformist’: Negotiating Claims to being Religious among Syrian Christians and Muslims
Psychologists' attempts to define and measure religion reveal substantial variability, a lack of consensus, cultural variation and differences between religions. A discursive psychology approach can address variability in meanings and the inferential issues that may inform claims to be religious. This paper identifies strategies used by Syrian Muslims and Christians to affirm, reformulate or deny religiousness. The analysis is based on a corpus o…
Interpersonal Issues in Expressing Lay Knowledge: A Discursive Psychology Approach
This article examines lay knowledge about causes of infertility. We use discursive psychology to analyse semi-structured interviews with purposively sampled Malawians with a fertility problem. We observe that respondents deny knowledge of causes, sometimes emphatically, but this co-occurs with descriptions of potential causes. We show that these respondents thereby address problematic interpersonal issues: namely that one is not entitled to medic…
The impact of early stroke on identity: A discourse analytic study
This article examines the ways in which sufferers talk about early stroke and the effects this chronic condition has on identity. Traditional research into chronic illness has largely used medical, psychiatric or cognitive models. We adopt a social constructionist perspective and use a discourse analytic methodology to study data collected via focus group interaction. Analysis of the data collected shows that participants displayed sensitivity ab…
Passive and active non-employment: Age, employment and the identities of older non-working people
I really tried: Management of normative issues in accounts of responses to infertility
What is it like to have ME: The discursive construction of ME in computer-mediated communication and face-to-face interaction
ME (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis) or CFS (chronic fatigue syndrome) is a debilitating illness for which no cause or medical tests have been identified. Debates over its nature have generated interest from qualitative researchers. However, participants are difficult to recruit because of the nature of their condition. Therefore, this study explores the utility of the internet as a means of eliciting accounts. We analyse data from focus groups and the…
Identities in Talk
The Potential of Conversation Analysis for Psychotherapy Research
An illustrative analysis is offered demonstrating the potential of conversation analysis for psychotherapy research. Extracts are presented from an unresolved problematic theme selected from an unsuccessful eight-session psychodynamic-interpersonal therapy of a female client presenting with a major depressive episode. The authors identify descriptive devices and communicative skills on which the client and therapist draw in the process of problem…
Identities in Talk
Identity as an Achievement and as a Tool - Charles Antaki and Sue Widdicombe PART ONE: SALIENCE AND THE BUSINESS OF IDENTITY The Relevant Thing about Her - Derek Edwards Social Identity Categories in Use How Gun Owners Accomplish Being Deadly Average - Andy McKinlay and Anne Dunnett 'But You Don't Class Yourself' - Sue Widdicombe The Interactional Management of Category Membership and Non-Membership Identity Ascriptions in Their Time and Place - …
Essay Review
Being' Versus 'Doing' Punk: On Achieving Authenticity as a Member
In this paper we examine some ways in which members of subcultures make comparisons between and within subcultural groups and one function served by such comparisons. Specifically, we illustrate how social comparisons are used to achieve authenticity for the subcultural group and for the self as a member of that group. Our analysis focuses on the language through which such comparisons are made in people's talk. The data come from a series of inf…
Dimensions of adolescent identity
It has been argued that the self‐concept is divided into two sub‐systems, one relating to personal and the other to social identities. The salience of these identities will depend upon the particular situation. How can the relationship between the individual's personal and social identities by conceptualized? To answer this question, Turner, Hogg, Oakes, Reicher and Wetherell (1987) proposed a hierarchical system of self‐categorization. At one le…
Being' Versus 'Doing' Punk: On Achieving Authenticity as a Member
In this paper we examine some ways in which members of subcultures make comparisons between and within subcultural groups and one function served by such comparisons. Specifically, we illustrate how social comparisons are used to achieve authenticity for the subcultural group and for the self as a member of that group. Our analysis focuses on the language through which such comparisons are made in people's talk. The data come from a series of inf…
The Potential of Conversation Analysis for Psychotherapy Research
An illustrative analysis is offered demonstrating the potential of conversation analysis for psychotherapy research. Extracts are presented from an unresolved problematic theme selected from an unsuccessful eight-session psychodynamic-interpersonal therapy of a female client presenting with a major depressive episode. The authors identify descriptive devices and communicative skills on which the client and therapist draw in the process of problem…
What is it like to have ME: The discursive construction of ME in computer-mediated communication and face-to-face interaction
ME (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis) or CFS (chronic fatigue syndrome) is a debilitating illness for which no cause or medical tests have been identified. Debates over its nature have generated interest from qualitative researchers. However, participants are difficult to recruit because of the nature of their condition. Therefore, this study explores the utility of the internet as a means of eliciting accounts. We analyse data from focus groups and the…
I really tried: Management of normative issues in accounts of responses to infertility
Interpersonal Issues in Expressing Lay Knowledge: A Discursive Psychology Approach
This article examines lay knowledge about causes of infertility. We use discursive psychology to analyse semi-structured interviews with purposively sampled Malawians with a fertility problem. We observe that respondents deny knowledge of causes, sometimes emphatically, but this co-occurs with descriptions of potential causes. We show that these respondents thereby address problematic interpersonal issues: namely that one is not entitled to medic…
Passive and active non-employment: Age, employment and the identities of older non-working people
The delicate business of identity
Identity has often been approached by asking questions about it in interviews. However, speakers sometimes reject, resist or modify category membership because of the sensitive inferential and interactional issues invoked. This article aims to provide a systematic analysis of category-eliciting question-answer (Q-A) sequences from a large corpus of Syrian interview data concerning several identities. Using conversation and membership categorisati…
I am a Believer but not a Conformist’: Negotiating Claims to being Religious among Syrian Christians and Muslims
Psychologists' attempts to define and measure religion reveal substantial variability, a lack of consensus, cultural variation and differences between religions. A discursive psychology approach can address variability in meanings and the inferential issues that may inform claims to be religious. This paper identifies strategies used by Syrian Muslims and Christians to affirm, reformulate or deny religiousness. The analysis is based on a corpus o…
The impact of early stroke on identity: A discourse analytic study
This article examines the ways in which sufferers talk about early stroke and the effects this chronic condition has on identity. Traditional research into chronic illness has largely used medical, psychiatric or cognitive models. We adopt a social constructionist perspective and use a discourse analytic methodology to study data collected via focus group interaction. Analysis of the data collected shows that participants displayed sensitivity ab…
Dimensions of adolescent identity
It has been argued that the self‐concept is divided into two sub‐systems, one relating to personal and the other to social identities. The salience of these identities will depend upon the particular situation. How can the relationship between the individual's personal and social identities by conceptualized? To answer this question, Turner, Hogg, Oakes, Reicher and Wetherell (1987) proposed a hierarchical system of self‐categorization. At one le…
Dimensions of adolescent identity
It has been argued that the self‐concept is divided into two sub‐systems, one relating to personal and the other to social identities. The salience of these identities will depend upon the particular situation. How can the relationship between the individual's personal and social identities by conceptualized? To answer this question, Turner, Hogg, Oakes, Reicher and Wetherell (1987) proposed a hierarchical system of self‐categorization. At one le…
Being' Versus 'Doing' Punk: On Achieving Authenticity as a Member
In this paper we examine some ways in which members of subcultures make comparisons between and within subcultural groups and one function served by such comparisons. Specifically, we illustrate how social comparisons are used to achieve authenticity for the subcultural group and for the self as a member of that group. Our analysis focuses on the language through which such comparisons are made in people's talk. The data come from a series of inf…
Essay Review
Identities in Talk
Identity as an Achievement and as a Tool - Charles Antaki and Sue Widdicombe PART ONE: SALIENCE AND THE BUSINESS OF IDENTITY The Relevant Thing about Her - Derek Edwards Social Identity Categories in Use How Gun Owners Accomplish Being Deadly Average - Andy McKinlay and Anne Dunnett 'But You Don't Class Yourself' - Sue Widdicombe The Interactional Management of Category Membership and Non-Membership Identity Ascriptions in Their Time and Place - …
Identities in Talk
The Potential of Conversation Analysis for Psychotherapy Research
An illustrative analysis is offered demonstrating the potential of conversation analysis for psychotherapy research. Extracts are presented from an unresolved problematic theme selected from an unsuccessful eight-session psychodynamic-interpersonal therapy of a female client presenting with a major depressive episode. The authors identify descriptive devices and communicative skills on which the client and therapist draw in the process of problem…
What is it like to have ME: The discursive construction of ME in computer-mediated communication and face-to-face interaction
ME (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis) or CFS (chronic fatigue syndrome) is a debilitating illness for which no cause or medical tests have been identified. Debates over its nature have generated interest from qualitative researchers. However, participants are difficult to recruit because of the nature of their condition. Therefore, this study explores the utility of the internet as a means of eliciting accounts. We analyse data from focus groups and the…
Passive and active non-employment: Age, employment and the identities of older non-working people
I really tried: Management of normative issues in accounts of responses to infertility
Interpersonal Issues in Expressing Lay Knowledge: A Discursive Psychology Approach
This article examines lay knowledge about causes of infertility. We use discursive psychology to analyse semi-structured interviews with purposively sampled Malawians with a fertility problem. We observe that respondents deny knowledge of causes, sometimes emphatically, but this co-occurs with descriptions of potential causes. We show that these respondents thereby address problematic interpersonal issues: namely that one is not entitled to medic…
The impact of early stroke on identity: A discourse analytic study
This article examines the ways in which sufferers talk about early stroke and the effects this chronic condition has on identity. Traditional research into chronic illness has largely used medical, psychiatric or cognitive models. We adopt a social constructionist perspective and use a discourse analytic methodology to study data collected via focus group interaction. Analysis of the data collected shows that participants displayed sensitivity ab…
I am a Believer but not a Conformist’: Negotiating Claims to being Religious among Syrian Christians and Muslims
Psychologists' attempts to define and measure religion reveal substantial variability, a lack of consensus, cultural variation and differences between religions. A discursive psychology approach can address variability in meanings and the inferential issues that may inform claims to be religious. This paper identifies strategies used by Syrian Muslims and Christians to affirm, reformulate or deny religiousness. The analysis is based on a corpus o…
‘I was bored so…’: Motivational accounts of participation in an online emo group
We examine members' spontaneous accounts for joining and participating in an online emo forum. The Internet and social networking sites are central features of contemporary youth cultures; the analysis of interaction on emo forums can thus provide a way of appreciating emo as a ‘Community in Practice’. We analyse popular discussion threads collected from a key emo website, using membership categorisation and conversation analysis. In these thread…
The delicate business of identity
Identity has often been approached by asking questions about it in interviews. However, speakers sometimes reject, resist or modify category membership because of the sensitive inferential and interactional issues invoked. This article aims to provide a systematic analysis of category-eliciting question-answer (Q-A) sequences from a large corpus of Syrian interview data concerning several identities. Using conversation and membership categorisati…
Doing patient-centredness versus achieving public health targets: A critical review of interactional dilemmas in ART adherence support
Generating positive self-descriptions in a research context: A discursive psychological and conversation analysis of interview products and practices
Interview research has been criticised because analysts often focus on interviewees’ talk and overlook the interviewer’s role in its production. This study uses conversation (CA) and discursive psychological (DP) analysis to examine interviews with Syrian and UK participants. It asks what conclusions can be drawn about their positive self-descriptions when analysis attends simultaneously to the sequences of turns and practices within and through …
Rather uncharacteristic of an Englishman to criticise plain food: Invoking category entitlements in food assessments
Discursive psychologists have shown how food assessments serve a variety of functions during mealtime interactions. Anthropological studies attest to the cultural significance of food and eating practices as reported through interviews and ethnographies. This study extends these literatures by studying food assessment in small talk on a social media platform. The data comprised 53 posts selected from an extended discussion on Twitter of a traditi…
Football Clubs as Identity Leaders: Communication and Club Action on Fan‐Club Relationships
Supporting a football club can provide a sense of belonging to fans; however, fan‐club relationships are complex and under‐examined within social psychology. This study used an identity leadership perspective to explore football fans' feelings about their relationships with their clubs and what they feel contributes to these relationships. Semi‐structured interviews ( N = 15) were conducted with fans from three clubs ( n = 5 per club) across diff…
Psychology (14 works) · Sociology (12 works) · Social Psychology (10 works) · Epistemology (8 works) · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies (6 works) · Political science (5 works) · Social Psychology (5 works) · Communication (4 works) · Conversation (4 works) · Interpersonal communication (4 works)