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Article published In:
Pragmatics and Society
Vol. 7:3 (2016) ► pp.366–390

Argument in professional-client encounters

Building cases through second-hand assessments

| University College Vestfold, Norway

Adopting the methods of Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis, this article aims to add to our knowledge of the dynamics and resistance in professional-client encounters. It does this by examining the argumentative function of second-hand assessments in the setting of vocational rehabilitation. In the situated negotiation of appropriate work-targeted initiatives (education, job training, etc.), the practice of reporting second-hand assessments functions either as ‘opposing’ the professional’s investigations, or, when used in initiating turns, as ‘promoting’ the client’s case. Regarding the first, second-hand assessments provide opportunities to oppose and redirect the institutional agenda. That is, the issue introduced by the professional is fended off more or less openly through second-hand accounts, which provide a presumptive better grasp on the matter at hand.

Keywords: second-hand knowledge, Conversation Analysis, assessment, indirect reported speech, arguing, institutional agenda, oppositional move, promotional move
Published online: 15 September 2016
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ps.7.3.02sol
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