While mediation programs vary greatly in their procedures and philosophies, most programs expect the mediator to act as a neutral facilitator who empowers disputants to resolve the dispute themselves. Advice-giving by mediators is therefore typically not recommended. However, mediators often find ways to give advice, if only indirectly. In this paper I use conversation analytic techniques to examine how mediators give advice to disputants in videotaped mediation sessions between divorcing couples. I found that while mediators display an orientation to a norm of no advice-giving, they do often give advice. Advice is often formulated indirectly, for example as a suggestion rather than as prescriptive advice, or as general information rather than advice targeted to a specific individual. Mediators also often gave procedural rather than substantive advice. These findings are discussed in terms of how advice-giving can support or detract from the ability of mediators to empower mediation clients to resolve their own disputes.
2024. LISTENING IN COURT-CONNECTED MEDIATIONS. International Journal of Listening 38:3 ► pp. 186 ff.
Xu, Qingxin
2024. Identifying disputants’ attitudinal variations in family mediations: A data mining approach. Discourse Studies
Zhang, Xian & Yanbiao Dong
2023. Constructing mediator identities through questioning in Chinese televised mediation. Discourse Studies 25:3 ► pp. 430 ff.
Antaki, Charles & Steven Bloch
2020. Advising without personalising: how a helpline may satisfy callers without giving medical advice beyond its remit. Sociology of Health & Illness 42:5 ► pp. 1202 ff.
2021. Locations for advice‐giving and the production of neutrality in divorce mediation sessions. Conflict Resolution Quarterly 38:3 ► pp. 189 ff.
Gulbrandsen, Wenke, Hanne Haavind & Odd A. Tjersland
2018. High‐conflict parents in mediation: An analysis of dialogues and sources to conflict. Conflict Resolution Quarterly 35:4 ► pp. 335 ff.
Ran, Yongping & Linsen Zhao
2018. Building mutual affection-based face in conflict mediation: A Chinese relationship management model. Journal of Pragmatics 129 ► pp. 185 ff.
Gulbrandsen, Wenke & Odd Arne Tjersland
2017. Forskningen på obligatorisk mekling ved samlivsbrudd: et fremoverrettet tilbakeblikk. Fokus på familien 45:1 ► pp. 6 ff.
Pick, Ina
2017. Der Beitrag der (angewandten) Gesprächslinguistik zur Erforschung von Mediation. In Mediation als Wissenschaftszweig, ► pp. 109 ff.
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