Seizing the Moment

The Problem of Conversational Agency

Bibliographic Data

ID2247294
AuthorsDes R Gibson (0000-0002-8554-4060, Columbia University, corresponding author), David R Gibson (0000-0002-3695-1831)
Year2000
Volume18
Issue3
Pages368-382
Publication date2000-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSociological Theory (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0735-2751 • E-ISSN: 1467-9558
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1111/0735-2751.00106
OpenAlexW2101932146
LanguageEN
Citations received22
References cited38

In conversation, actors face constraints on when they can speak, whom they can address, what they can say, and what they can safely expect from others by way of cooperation. This is the backdrop against which people pursue their idiosyncratic interests and objectives, success at which constitutes conversational agency. In principle, agency is made possible by the 'looseness' of conversational constraints. This does not create a clear path for the advancement of personal ends, however, since options are always limited by the context, and success is always contingent upon the cooperation of others. Ultimately, the most agentic people are those who readily exploit imperfect options though this means abandoning the inflexible pursuit of pre-conceived objectives

Computer security · Conversation · Epistemology · Exploit · Imperfect · Law and economics · Linguistics · Political science · Public relations · Social science · Sociology · Communication · Computer Science · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition · Management and Organizational Studies · Psychology · Social Psychology

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