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ETHNOMETHODOLOGY, CONVERSATION ANALYSIS AND CONSTRUCTIVE ANALYSIS This book revisits the arguments by which Harvey Sacks and Harold Garfinkel opposed the widespread attempt in the social sciences to construct disciplinary theories and methods in place of common-sense knowledge of human action, and proposed instead an alternative that would investigate the organised methods of natural language use and common-sense reasoning that constitute social orders – arguments that led to the establishment and proliferation of ethnomethodology and conversation analysis. As the very “constructive analysis” that they opposed has begun to be incor- porated into influential lines of research in ethnomethodology and conversation analysis, the authors return to the founding insights of the field and reiterate the importance of Garfinkel and Sacks’ original and controversial proposals for an “alternate” sociology of practical action and practical reasoning. Showing how constructive analysis has become entrenched in ethnomethodology and conversation analysis and arguing for a need to “re-boot” these approaches, this volume consti- tutes a call for a renewal of the radical alternative proposed by Garfinkel and Sacks. Graham Button completed his PhD in sociology at the University of Man- chester in 1975. He has published in the fields of both conversation analysis and ethnomethodological studies of work, and has developed collaborations with researchers in interactive computer systems design, extensively publishing in CSCW and HCI journals and books. His last appointment was Professor and Pro-Vice Chancellor for Arts, Computing, Engineering and Science at Sheffield Hallam University and before that he was the Laboratory Director of Xerox Research Centre Europe, first in Cambridge, and then in Grenoble. He has been a Principal lecturer in Sociology at the University of Plymouth; Visiting Faculty at the University of California, Los Angeles, and Boston University; Visiting Professor at the Universities of Nottingham and Plymouth; Visiting Scholar at the University of Cambridge and Visiting Senior Fellow at Tembusu College, the National University of Singapore. He currently enjoys being free of all insti- tutional affiliations and obligations. Michael Lynch is Emeritus Professor of Science & Technology Studies at Cornell University, and Research Professor in the School of Media and Information, University of Siegen, Germany. He received his PhD in Social Sciences at the University of California, Irvine, in 1979, and has held positions in Sociology, Human Sciences, and Science & Technology Studies at Whitman College, Boston University, Brunel University, and Cornell University. His major fields are ethnomethodology and social studies of science. He has inves- tigated practical action, visual representation, and discursive interaction in scientific and legal settings, and also has written extensively about conceptual and analytical issues in the social sciences. He was Editor of Social Studies of Science from 2002 until 2012 and was President of the Society for Social Studies of Science in 2007–2009. Wes Sharrock has been at the University of Manchester since 1965, first as a graduate student, and, since 1968, until retirement in 2018, as a member of the Sociology staff. He now has an Emeritus affiliation with the University. Troubled by Sociology’s apparent inability to take a serious interest in the world of daily life, he was influenced by Manchester’s social anthropologists and early drawn to the work of Ludwig Wittgenstein, Alfred Schutz, Harold Garfinkel, and Harvey Sacks, regarding them as – even now – largely under-appreciated. In company with collaborators of the same persuasion he has published on a diversity of sociological/philosophical topics in forms ranging from introductory guides to sociological theory and the philosophy of social research to journal papers on design projects, computer modelling in biology, print work, and math- ematician’s work inter alia. He has long wanted to write a piece called It’s the language, stupid but hesitates to do so for fear it would cause offence. Directions in Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis Series Editors: Andrew Carlin, University of Macau, Macau SAR, China, and K. Neil Jenkings, Newcastle University, UK. Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis are cognate approaches to the study of social action that together comprise a major perspective within the contemporary human sciences. Ethnomethodology focuses upon the production of situated and ordered social action of all kinds, whilst Conversation Analysis has a more specific focus on the production and organisation of talk-in-interaction. Of course, given that so much social action is conducted in and through talk, there are substantive as well theoretical continuities between the two approaches. Focusing on social activities as situated human productions, these approaches seek to analyse the intelligibility and accountabil- ity of social activities “from within” those activities themselves, using methods that can be analysed and described. Such methods amount to aptitudes, skills, knowledge, and competencies that members of society use, rely upon and take for granted in conducting their affairs across the whole range of social life. As a result of the methodological rewards consequent upon their unique analytic approach and attention to the detailed orderliness of social life, Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis have ramified across a wide range of human science disci- plines throughout the world, including anthropology, social psychology, linguistics, communication studies, and social studies of science and technology. This series is dedicated to publishing the latest work in these two fields, including research monographs, edited collections and theoretical treatises. As such, its volumes are essential reading for those concerned with the study of human conduct and aptitudes, the (re)production of social orderliness and the methods and aspirations of the social sciences. On Sacks Methodology, Materials, and Inspirations Edited by Robin James Smith, Richard Fitzgerald and William Housley The Body of Knowledge Fieldwork and Conceptualization in Social Inquiry Kornelia Engert Harold Garfinkel: Studies of Work in the Sciences Harold Garfinkel and Michael Lynch Ethnomethodology, Conversation Analysis and Constructive Analysis On Formal Structures of Practical Action Graham Button, Michael Lynch and Wes Sharrock For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.routledge.com/Directions- in-Ethnomethodology-and-Conversation-Analysis/book-series/ASHSER1190 ETHNOMETHODOLOGY, CONVERSATION ANALYSIS AND CONSTRUCTIVE ANALYSIS On Formal Structures of Practical Action Graham Button, Michael Lynch and Wes Sharrock Cover image: Getty images First published 2022 by Routledge 4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2023 Graham Button, Michael Lynch and Wes Sharrock The right of Graham Button, Michael Lynch and Wes Sharrock to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Button, Graham, 1950- author. | Lynch, Michael, 1948- author. | Sharrock, W. W. (Wes W.), author. Title: Ethnomethodology, conversation analysis and constructive analysis : on formal structures of practical action / Graham Button, Michael Lynch, Wes Sharrock. Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2023. | Series: Directions in ethnomethodology and conversation analysis | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2022015288 (print) | LCCN 2022015289 (ebook) | ISBN 9781032106052 (hardback) | ISBN 9781032116273 (paperback) | ISBN 9781003220794 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Ethnomethodology. | Conversation analysis. | Discourse analysis. Classification: LCC HM481 .B87 2023 (print) | LCC HM481 (ebook) | DDC 305.8001--dc23/eng/20220509 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022015288 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022015289 ISBN: 9781032106052 (hbk) ISBN: 9781032116273 (pbk) ISBN: 9781003220794 (ebk) DOI: 10.4324/9781003220794 Typeset in Bembo by KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd. To The Memory of Harvey Sacks CONTENTS Preface xi Acknowledgements xiv Introduction 1 PART I Foundations 1 On Formal Structures of Practical Action 11 2 Sequential Analysis as an Investigation of Formal Structures of Practical Action 42 3 Ethnomethodological Studies of Work 60 PART II Conversation Analysis 4 Autonomous Structures of Conversational Actions 83 5 Technical and Vernacular Description 114