А С I A U N I V E R S I T A T I S L 0 0 Z I E N 5 I S FOLIA SOCIOLOGICA 22, 1991
Part I
WORK INSTITUTIONS AND EVERYDAY EXPERIENCE
Marek Czyżewski WORK ANO EVERYOAY LIFE
1. Introductory remarks: from a par adoxical obs e r v a t i o n to a paradoxical con clus ion
Let me begin with the par adoxical observation: work is the sys tema tical ly neg lect ed research topic in the soc iology of work. Soc iolo gists of work deal with the social, cultural, economic, political, and technological d e t ermi nants and con se q u e n c e s of work activities, but they are usually not i n t eres ted in the analysis of work act ivit ies themselves, in their practical, ’in s i t u ‘ c ir cums tance s of interactional setting. Therefore, the topics of the research u n d erta ken in the soc iolo gy of work •surround* - so to say - the sphere of work activities, while keeping it bey ond the scope of the ana lytical interest.
It goes without saying that there is a dem and for research specific for the sociology of work. Such res earc h may point to the important external con diti ons of the p ro cess of work, and through the analysis of the con seq u e n c e s of work a c t ivit ies it may be used for for ecasting the growth trends in the sphere of social c o n scio usnes s and in the field of economy. For all that, it is rather p e r plex ing that the res earc hes ca r r i e d out in the field of the sociology of work are not dir ectl y related to the work itself, but usually consist In o b t aini ng i n f orma tion on what the wor kers feel or think about the work, its conditions
and consequences, looking realistically rather than sceptically upon the proper subject of these researches, one should add that they are in fact focused on the analysis of any opinions or f e e -lings about work that respondents are ready to volunteer to the researcher or write in a questionnaire. It seems, therefore, that it wou ld be worthwhile to put more effort into describing the actual interaction processes going on in industrial plants and in institutions. The focus on investi gatin g the work a c t i v i ties pro vides an opp ortu nity of cre atin g an accurate r e p r e s e n t a -tion of work, and it might also wake explicit the tacit features, rules and str uctu res of interaction thanks to which the course of work acq uire s a specific form and character. Besides c o g n i -tive gains, analyses of this kind might have practical i m p o r -tance, as their findings might become the. basis for formulating dir ecti ons for rei nfor cing the proper and eff ecti ve forms of work activities, and eli mina ting the ine ffective and improper forms. This last remark applies above all to the work activities which demand par ticu larly complex and hard to master interaction skills, such as e.g. in the case of the work of a teacher, an educator, a psychologist, a doctor or a psy chot herap ist. It is worth adding, that the practical dir ecti ons and con clus ions could be very def init e and precise.
Let us come back for a while to our point of departure, i.e. to the obs e r v a t i o n that the sociology of work, in its generally kno wn and p r a c t i s e d forms, does not deal with work in Its p r a c -tical setting. I would like now to submit for conside ratio n a statement of a more general nature: thus, I bel ieve that we are con fron ted with a largely analogous sit uation in the remaining sub disc iplin es of empirical sociology. For example, a s o c i o l o -gist of edu cati on asks teachers and pupils for their opinions and rec onst ructs their attitudes, mot ivat ions and con cept ions of their social roles, while usually he does not u n d erta ke systematic research on the course of daily events in a typical primary or secondary school. Examples of this sort could be multiplied. I n stead, I wou ld like to devote som ewhat more att ention to the c h a -racter of the research in the sociology of culture. A sociologist of culture o ft en deals with the r ec onst ructi on of attitudes, pre fere nces and conceptions of the creators or the recipients of
c ul ture as reg ards the cr e a t e d or r e c eive d cul t u r a l goods, such as e.g. a the atre p e r f o r m a n c e or a TV pro gram me, w h i l e he is less i n t eres ted in the actual course of cul tural e v e n t s and a c t i v i t i e s (as e.g. the p ro cess of p r e pari ng the p e r f o r m a n c e or a TV b r o a d -cast, the pro g r e s s of a per form ance, the s t a n d a r d ’d o m e s t i c ’ b e h avio ur in front of the TV set). If, however, the s o c i o l o g i s t of c ul ture un d e r t a k e s res earc h on cul tural e ve nts and act ivit ies, he u su ally rec on s t r u c t s them on the bas is of his r e s p o n d e n t s ’ declarations. It may be sup pose d that i n t e r a c t i o n r e s e a r c h in the field of the soc iolo gy of cul ture mig ht b ri ng b o t h c o g n i t i v e and pra ctic al gains. The c o g niti ve gains are o b v i o u s wit h regard to the new m od els of cul tura l activities, suc h as e.g. a rock festival, or com puter gam es - a l t h o u g h it s ho uld be add ed that the ana lysis of such wid ely known, rou tine cul tura l a c t i v i t i e s as e.g. wat c h i n g TV together with the oth er f am ily members, cou ld p er haps b ri ng e qu ally c o g n i t i v e l y a t t r a c t i v e or even s u r -pri sing findings. The pra ctic al gains from i n t e r a c t i o n res earc h in the field of the soc iolo gy of cu l t u r e m ig ht c o n s i s t s in e.g. the e l a b o r a t i o n of notional c a t e g o r i e s of a m or e ’t e c h n i c a l ’ character, the lack of whi ch is obs e r v a b l e in t he atre and TV reviewing, as well as in d i s c u s s i o n s of mass cul ture, the youth culture, etc.
To sum up, we cou ld say that emp iric al so c i o l o g y in general, foc using on the main s u b j e c t s of its interest, i.e. on the q u e s -tions of ’social structure* and ’social c o n s c i o u s n e s s ’ , largely r e l inqu ishes the obs e r v a t i o n and a n a l y s i s of soc ial rea lity in its pra ctic al circums tance s. It is w or th n o t i n g that this s ta te of a ff airs is co n n e c t e d with the d o m i n a n c e of suc h r e s e a r c h t e c h -n iq ues as a q u e s t i o -n -n a i r e i-nt erview or a q u e s t i o -n a r y , g e n e r a l l y s pe a k i n g wit h the d o m inan ce of the t e c hniq ues s o m e t i m e s d e s c r i b -ed as 'techniques b as -ed on communication*. The se t e c h n i q u e s c on sist in e l i c i t i n g ans wers to given questions, and thus in b r i n g i n g into e x i s t e n c e a new social p h e n o m e n o n in the form of a soc io l o g i c a l inquiry. On the oth er hand, when those t e c h n i q u e s are the only res e a r c h te c h n i q u e s - as is the case in m os t of the s o c i o l o g i c a l res earc h - the o b s e r v a t i o n and a n a lysi s of n a t u r a l l y o c c u r r i n g phe nome na, i.e. the social p h e n o m e n a u n i n f l u e n c e d by the r e s e a r -cher, b ec omes v i r tual ly impossible. Mor eove r, a q u e s t i o n n a i r e
interview and the questionary, through the cha ract er of the data obt aine d wit h their help, ’p u s h ’ the res earc her into r e c o n s t r u c t
-ing uno bse r v a b l e sta tes and phe nome na ( ’social s t r u c t u r e ’ , ’s o -cial c o n s c i o u s n e s s ’) on the basis of the r e s p o n d e n t s ’ d e c l a r a -tions .
The thesis with w hi ch I would like to close these i n t r o d u c -tory remarks may not seem obvious at first sight, but I hope it is jus tifi ed in the light of what has already been said here. In spite of the eno r m o u s number of s o c iolo gical researches, social life in its con c r e t n e s s and variety is still an area ina cces sible to the con ven t i o n a l soc iolo gical research. This area u n r ecog nized by soc iolo gy con sist s of two partly int er s e c t i n g domains. One of them may be de s c r i b e d as rou tine daily a c t ivit ies located in such set ting s of eve ryday life as family life, social life, or a tram journey. The other domain con tain s routine act ivit ies loc ated in institu tiona l set ting s (such as e.g. school, hospital, local o u t p a t i e n t s ’ surgery, w or king place etc.). The int erac tion tissue of m o d ern soc ieti es whi ch have at their disposal s o c i o -logy as a s p e c i a l i z e d res earc h dis cipl ine, remains p er haps as u n r e c o g n i z e d by soc io l o g i s t s as the c us toms of p r e - l i t e r a r y soc ieti es at the time when they were not yet s tu died by e t h n o -graphers.
2. Some recent app roac hes to the study of work
Ge t t i n g thr ough to a par t i c u l a r sub ject of r e s earc h dep ends on the use of proper res earc h techniques. The ana lysi s of actual work act u v i t i e s (as well as that of the other eve ryday or insti-tutional act ivit ies) requires such res earc h tec hniq ues as p a r t i -c ipant o b s e r v a t i o n and the ana lysi s of tape or video re-cordings. These t e c hniq ues sho uld be a pp lied to n a t ural ly occ u r i n g p h e n o -mena, i.e. to a c t ivit ies and e v e nts whi ch are not p r o voke d by the r e s earc her (like e.g. ans wers in a q u e stio nary) , but occur of t h e msel ves in social reality. This does not mean - let me e m p hasi ze this - that we mus t com p l e t e l y ex c l u d e such res earch tec hniq ues as an int ervi ew (es pecially an u n s t a n d a r d i z e d i n t e r -view) or a q u e stio nary. Such tec hniq ues may be use ful as a u x i -liary instruments.
The app l i c a t i o n of res e a r c h t e c hniq ues d i r e c t e d at the o b s e r -vation and reg i s t e r i n g of social p h e n o m e n a is an i m p orta nt d i -s t i n g u i -s h i n g mark of the -so - c a l l e d i n t e r p r e t i v e -s o c iolo gy, i.e. of such o r i e n t a t i o n s as i n t e r a c t i o n i s m (the r e s e a r c h wor k of A ns elm Str auss and other c o n t i n u a t o r s of the C h i c a g o school), r e s earc h work bas ed on the i n s pira tion c o m i n g from the w or ks of E rving Goffman, e t h n o m e t h o d o l o g y , and c o n v e r s a t i o n analysis. L e a v i n g aside the com plex issues of the d i f f e r e n c e s and ar g u m e n t s b e t w e e n these o r i e n t a t i o n s whi ch tog e t h e r form int erp r e t i v e sociology, we mus t only remark here that the s h a r e d p r e f e r e n c e for c er tain res earc h tec hniq ues is u n d o u b t e d l y c o n n e c t e d with m et ho d o l o g i c a l and the oret ical bas es of i n t e r p r e t i v e sociology. The idea c om mon to all the o r i e n t a t i o n s of i n t e r p r e t i v e s o c iolo gy is the wish to interpret the social rea lity in c a t e g o r i e s clo se to those emp l o y e d by the i n h abit ants of the a n a l y s e d reality t h e msel ves in the c ou rse of their actions. An o t h e r c o m m o n e le ment of the i n t erpr etive app r o a c h is the a v o i d a n c e or at least l i m i -tation of the use of wid ely k no wn s o c i o l o g i c a l c o n c e p t u a l a p -paratus.
The res earc h in i n t erpr etive s o c iolo gy has p r o d u c e d a n a l y t i -cal d e s c r i p t i o n s of var ious forms and s h a p e s of i n t e r a c t i o n p r o -ces ses in e v e ryda y life and in i n s titu tiona l set ting s. They fill a wi d e gap in con ve n t i o n a l soc io l o g i c a l lit e r a t u r e , or rather to des c r i b e more p r e c i s e l y the c ur rent sta te of aff a i r s - they shape a new type of s o c i o l o g i c a l literature.
It is w or th n o t i n g that amo ng the s t u d i e s of i n t e r a c t i o n p r o c e s s e s in i n s titu tiona l settings, it is the study of w or k that o cc u p i e s an ever more imp orta nt position. Her e bel ong, among others, A n s e l m S t r a u s s ' s r e s earc hes on 'medical work', w hi ch d e r ive from the t r a diti on of the C h i c a g o school, and e t h n o m e t h o - d o l ogic al 'studies of work'.
S t r a u s s ’s r e s earc h is c o n c e r n e d w it h the h o s p i t a l care of c hr onic p a t ient s in the U n i t e d States. The refo re, f ro m the t r a -d it ional poi nt of view it may be sai-d that S t r a u s s ’s res e a r c h be l o n g s to the d o m a i n of me d i c a l soc iolo gy. On the o th er hand, S tr auss and his c o l l a b o r a t o r s put s pe cial e m p h a s i e on the fact that the s ub ject of their ana l y s i s in 'medical work' and its 'social o r g aniz ation '. The school of S t r a u s s is c o n c e r n e d wit h
the analysis of the actual course of a c t ivit ies w hi ch are among the pro fess ional duties of the medical staff, and also - above all - wit h the analysis of the act ivit ies which, a c c ordi ng to the a d m i n i s t r a t i v e and the soc iolo gical d e f init ions are not part of the pro fe s s i o n a l duties but still belong to the org aniz ed effort of the medical staff and - importantly - of the fellow patients, w hi ch is aimed at giving phy sical and mental support to the c hr onic patients. Thus, it may be rea sona bly c la imed that S tr auss 's res earc hes belong to the dom ain of the soc iolo gy of work. What is more, what results from these res earc hes is a new co n c e p t i o n of work, and also a new per s p e c t i v e for research in the soc iolo gy of work. A fragment of the m o n o g r a p h written by Strauss and his col l a b o r a t o r s is c h a r a c t e r i s t i c a l l y ent itled ’Soc iolo gy of Work - But What W o r k ? ’ [ S t r a u s s et al., 1985, chapt. 10 J. It s h o uld be also str esse d that the research has pra ctical applica tions : it is S t r a u s s ’s int ention that his m o n o -graph s ho uld be used as an aid in the reform of Ame r i c a n h o s -pital management. Last but not least, the m o n ogra ph is written in c o l ourf ul lan guage and mak es an int eres ting and i l l u m i n a t -ing rea d-ing not only for sociologists, but also for doctors, aux iliary medical staff and above all - for the medical m a n a -gement workers.
The ma i n res earc h tec hnique used by S t r a u s s ’s r e s earc h team is p a r t i c i p a n t o b s e r v a t i o n acc o m p a n i e d by other techniques, such as e.g. the u n s t a n d a r d i z e d interview. C on sequ ently , the r e s e a r -cher must o ft en rely on his field notes. Ano ther feature of S t r a u s s ’s r e s earc h is c o m bini ng ’c o n v e n t i o n a l ’ int erest in c o n -d it ions an-d c o n s e q u e n c e s with a new sphere of int erest inc lu-di ng the actual a c t i v i t i e s whi ch make up medical work.
F ro m the tra diti onal point of view, recent eth n o m e t h o d o l o g i - cal res e a r c h sho uld be treated as b e l o n g i n g to the s o c iolo gy of science. Indeed, the so- call ed ’stu dies of w o r k ’ taken up by Har old G a r f i n k e l and his c o l l a b o r a t o r s as yet deal with the work of s c i enti sts in such fields as astronomy, n e u r o a n a t o m y or m a t h e -matics. However, the spe cifi c ch a r a c t e r of the analyses mad e by Garfinkel, И. Lyn ch and E. Liv i n g s t o n comes from the rigorous tre atment of s c i enti fic act ivity as work activities, and t h e r e -fore as rou tine o c c upat ional act ivit ies taking place in spe cifi c
practical c i r c u m s t a n c e s such as e.g. those of an ast ron o m i c a l obs erva tory, n e u r o a n a t o m i c a l lab orat ory or a m a t h e m a t i c a l ’w o r k -s i t e ’. Therefore, the main analytical concept is here the c o n -cept of work un d e r s t o o d as ’lived w o r k ’, and not the c on cept of science. It sho uld be hop ed that the further d e v e l o p m e n t of e t h n o m e t h o d o l o g i c a l ’s tu dies of work* will go well b e y o n d the limits of sci e n t i f i c work and will con c e r n other k i n d s of work.
The e t h n o m e t h o d o l o g i c a l app roac h o ff ers the most c o n sist ent ill us t r a t i o n of the ideas of int er p r e t i v e sociology. The d i s -tinction b et ween e t h n o m e t h o d o l o g y and c o n v e n t i o n a l soc iolo gy, whi ch is ess ential for an e t h n o m e t h o d o l o g i s t , is c u r rent ly f or mula ted as the d i s t i n c t i o n be t w e e n ’stu dies of w o r k ’ and ’stu dies about w o r k ’. The ’stu d i e s of w o r k ’ c on sist in a s y s t e -matic and d e t aile d d e s c r i p t i o n of work act i v i t i e s as they take place 'in s i t u ’, i.e. in def init e and nat ural c i r c u m s t a n c e s (not cr e a t e d by the researcher). The only tec hniq ues of c o l l e c t i n g data are p a r tici pant o b s e r v a t i o n and tape and video recordings. An e t h n o m e t h o d o l o g i s t а1тз at the ana lysi s of the c o u r s e of work itself, in terms of its own, s e l f - o r g a n i z i n g str uctu res. In con trast to the ’s tu dies of w o r k ’ , the c o m monl y p u r s u e d ’stu dies about work' do not offer any ana lysi s of work pro cess es, but deal with such issues as social rel atio ns and the role st r u c t u r e among workers, the s t r uctu re of incomes, etc. In c o n n e c t i o n with this, Gar fink el and his c o l l a b o r a t o r s m a i n t a i n that there is a s er ious gap in s o c iolo gical literature. This gap c o n s i s t s in the lack of d e s c r i p t i o n s of how the workers, d u r i n g the c o u r s e of work, get along with their tasks. A c c o r d i n g to G a r fink el, one c o n s e q u e n c e of this gap in the li t e r a t u r e is that the wor kers u su ally do not rec ogni ze t h e msel ves and their own real pro blem s in the s o c iolo gical ana lyse s of work; it is also true that the wo r k e r s the msel ves oft en see the e x i stin g s o c i o l o g i c a l d e s c r i p -tions of work as u n i nter estin g, c o n f u s i n g or irritating.
Moreover, e t h n o m e t h o d o l o g i s t s stress the fact that, as a c o n s e q u e n c e of g e n eral ly a c c epte d me t h o d s a n d t e c h n i q u e s of s o c i o -logical research, actuel events, a c t i v i t i e s and c i r c u m s t a n c e s of a w o r k e r ’s life get ’t r a n s l a t e d ’, as it were, into obj e c t s u n d e r s t a n d a b l e w it hin soc io l o g i c a l r e s earc h and the oriz ing. What is «ore, b ec ause of the a b o v e - m e n t i o n e d gap in s o c i o l o g i c a l
lite-rature on work, the relation b et ween this 'sociological t ra ns-l a t i o n ’ and the originans-l reans-lity remains unknown.
Thanks to the eth nome t h o d o l o g i c a l ’stu dies of w o r k ’ we have obt aine d c o n vinc ing evi dence of the pra ctical cha ract er of s c i e n -ce: res earc hers have off ered us an ana lyti cal d e s crip tion of
•an ord inary n i g h t ’s w o r k ’ of some astronomers, dur ing whi ch a p r e viou sly u nk nown heavenly body was ’d i s c o v e r e d ’ [ G a r f i n -k e l , L y n c h , L i v i n g s t o n , 1981 ], have p r o vide d an ana lytical d e s crip tion of ’shop work* and ’shop talk’ of research workers in a n eu roan atomi cal lab orat ory [ L y n c h , 1985], and have p r e s e n t e d a d e s crip tion of the work of p ro ving the m a t h e -matical theorem [ L i v i n g s t o n , 1 9 8 6 J. The com mon feature of these res earc hes is that they point out the way in whi ch the
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so-called objective scientific reality is constru cted in the course of practical activities and routine con versations. These researches provide epistem ologi sts with mat eria ls of previously unheard-of sys tema ticit y and variety of ’technical* details.
Yet another orienta tion of interpretive sociology deserves separate treatment here. This is con vers ation analysis, which is a continu ation of e t h n o m e t h o d o l o g y , s p e cial ized in i n v e s t i g a -ting ordinary conversations. The investigation consists in a Jetailed analysis of tape or video recordings. Only such c o n v e r -sations are recorded as occur ’naturally*, i.e. as would take place in identical form even if the researcher were not present. The broad scope of con vers ation analysis includes the study of the rules of con vers ation s in everyday life, as well as the study of the rules of con vers ation s occ urri ng in actual institutional 3ettings. Con vers a t i o n - a n a l y t i c investi gatio ns of work belong to the latter of the above-m entio ned types of research. Me should •ake a reservation, however, that because of the objective Interests of con vers ation analysis, only those kinds of work that are based on con vers ation as their main activity, may be effectively studied. Bearing this reserva tion in mind, we may observe that c o n v ers ation analysis has been app lied as yet to the following kinds of conversations:
- a court trial [ A t k i n s o n , D r e w , 1979, et al.], - a lesson [e.g. M e h a n, 1979],
F ro m the tra diti onal point of view, these s t u d i e s b el ong to relevant s u b d i s c i p l i n e s of sociology; s o c iolo gy of law, s o c i o -logy of education, or m ed ical soc iology. On the oth er hand, c o n s i d e r i n g the detailed, ’t e c h n i c a l ’ c h a r a c t e r of c o n v e r s a t i o n - -analytic research, these s tu dies offer insight into spe cifi c ways of doi ng work by mea ns of con vers ing, or mo r e generally, i n t erac ting with others. Once more, it is w or th p o i n t i n g out the p o s s i b i l i t i e s of p r a ctic al a p p l i c a t i o n of the r e s e a r c h on work activities, w h i c h in the case of c o n v e r s a t i o n a n a lysi s cou ld even be of use in p r o f e s s i o n a l training.
Let us end this po r t i o n of our r em arks wit h the s t a t e m e n t of the fact that wor k act i v i t i e s and the p o s s i b i l i t i e s of a n a l y s i n g them hav e bec ome one of the most important p r o b l e m s of i n t e r p r e -tive sociology. Whit is more, the int erest in work a c t ivit ies has m a r k e d int egra tive c o n s e q u e n c e s as reg ards the t r a d i t i o n a l l y c o n c e i v e d s u b d i s c i p l i n e di v i s i o n s in soc iolo gy. The u n i f y i n g factor in all res earch of work a c t ivit ies is not, how ever, just any s o c iolo gical def i n i t i o n of work a do pted a priori. Q ui te the opposite, in the study of work act i v i t i e s s tr ong e m p h a s i s is laid on the h e t e r o g e n e i t y and the ’mat eria l' and ’technical* spe c i f i c i t y of various kinds of work. What is c o m m o n to all the stu dies of work is the c o n v i c t i o n that work is the b as ic rou tine act ivity p e r f o r m e d in i ns titu tiona l settings. A n o t h e r imp ortant uni f y i n g factor is the alr eady men tion ed, mor e or less c o m m o n set of rules of r e s e a r c h approach.
3. The study of work a c t i v i t i e s - an ex a m p l e
The su b j e c t of my study is p s y c h o t h e r a p y u n d e r s t o o d as work, I.e. as p r o fess ional , r ou tine act ivit y p e r f o r m e d in a spe cifi c institu tiona l setting. The small sca le of this stu dy has forced me to limit the sub ject und er r e s e a r c h to a c h o s e n fra gmen t of individual therapy. The fragment c h o s e n for a n a lysi s is the s o - call ed in-take interview. The q u e s t i o n I ask ed at the o ut set of my r e s e a r c h was: in what way does the t h e rapi st f o r m an i n s t i -tutional r e l a t i o n s h i p wit h a patient, i.e. how is the t h e rapi st- -patient r e l a t i o n s h i p e s t a b l i s h e d ? In oth er words, I am
con-cerned with the ana lysis of the means by which, in the cou rse of the in-tako interview, it is e s t abli shed that from a par ticu lar moment one per son will act as a therapist towards the par ticu lar other person, and this other per son will then become a patient of this specific person whom he rec ogni zes as his therapist. The forming of the therapist - pat ient rel ati o n s h i p is labelled by therapists as a ’contract*. The con tract be t w e e n a therapist and a pat ient is som etim es made in the cou rse of several meetings, and so it may happen that it will go bey ond the in-take interview. Also, forming the contract or the ele ments of the contract in the course of the in-take interview som etim es takes place within an easily dis tin g u i s h a b l e fragment of the interview, s o m etim es it hap pens in stages, and in other cases the forming of the con tract can hardly be d i s ting uishe d in the whole course of the interview. It may also hap pen that dur ing the first m ee ting the therapist refers the patient to another therapist or to a doctor. Finally, the patient may take advantage of the pos s i b i l i t y of rej ecting the t h e r a p i s t ’s offer of contract.
One of the reasons why I have c ho sen the contract as the subject of analysis is that in the t h e r a p i s t s ’ opinion, a con tract is one of the crucial factors det e r m i n i n g the success or failure of further therapy. Moreover, it is imp ossible to lead the therapeutic int erview and obs erve it at the same time - as it impossible, too, in the case of all the other kinds of conversations. It seems thus that the sys tema tic ana lysi s of the in-take interview, or at least of some of its aspects, with special regard to the phe nome na rel evant to the m ak ing of c o n -tract, mig ht bri ng cog niti ve gains in the shape of the d e s c r i p -tion of the actual course of a t h e r a p i s t ’s work, and might also prove useful in training or imp rovi ng the met hods of therapeutic work.
The res earc h pro cedu re I have a da pted is c o n v e r s a t i o n analysis. Fro m the ’t e c h n i c a l ’ point of view, a res earch in con ver s a t i o n analysis con sists of four stages! the rec ordi ng of the c o n v e r -sation, the p r e p a r a t i o n of a tra nscr ipt usi ng a c om plex system of symbols of transcription, the ana lysi s (based on the repeated lis teni ng in to the rec ordi ngs and stu dyin g the transcripts), the p r e p a r a t i o n of a res earch report. The pre sent state of my
res earc h is as follows: some in-take in t e r v i e w s (about twenty) have been recorded, and the transcripts of selected fragments о ' several of them have been prepared; also, I have made initls. attempts at analysing the material. At the present stage of th> research one cannot yet speak of any conclusions. So, instead of the premature drawing of conclusions, in lieu of the summary of this paper, I would like to offer an illustration of the use of conversation analysis in the research on therapeutic work a c -tivities .
The following sequence occured in one of the in-take inter-views :
(1) therapist: Leki tutaj, Medication here,
(•) (.)
Patient: No nie pomacają: Well d o e s n ’t h e l p * Therapist: -f Nie pomagajg H D o e s n ’t helD
c
--- С
Patient: °w zasadzie0 “pra ctically0
Transcript symbols used in sequence (l)s , continuing intonation
(.) micropause, i.e., pause of 0.2 sec. __ stress
* = continuous utterances
maiked rising shift in intonation (immediately following the symbol)
С overlapping utterances (onset)
о о a quieter passage
This sequence attracted my attention because it contained th; following event: the therapist brought the patient to- produce the completion of the phrase uncompleted by the therapist. The conversation concerned one of the most essential conditions of therapy, and it seemed interesting to me that by virtue of this sequence, agreement was reached in an indirect way (i.e., It was not the case that the therapist stated to the patient that m e -dication was not used in the therapy, and then waited for the p a t i e n t ’s approval of such a statement).
In the following I take the subsequent research steps (A,B,C) according to the conversation analysis.
A. Looking for other instances of the same kind of sequence 1л psychotherapeutic in-take interviews.
S eq uence (2) is another example of the ide ntif ied sequence:
Transcript symbols used in sequence (2); other than those given above by exa mple (1):
8. The next step of the ana lysi s con sist s in finding the r e -cur rent reg ul a r i t i e s of this kind of sequence.
On the bas is of the above examples, one may point to the fol lowing com mon features of the sequence:
- the seq uenc e con sist s of four elements-,
- element 1 - the the rapist does not c o m plet e his u t t eran ce ano suspends his intonation;
- a short pau se follows,
- ele ment 2 - the p at ient com plet es the phr ase u n c o m p l e t e d by the t he rapi st ;
- element 3 - the the rapist repeats the c o m p l e t i o n of the phrase u tt ered by the patient;
- there is no pause b et ween ele ment s 2 and 3;
- e le ment 4 - the com ment pro vide d by the patient (example 1: *w z a s a d z i e ’, ’p r a c t i c a l l y ’) or by the the rapist (example 2: ’p r a w d a : ? ’ , ’r i : g h t ? ’).
C. The final, most Important stage of the ana lysi s should con sist in s ho wing that the rec urre nt pa t t e r n in the seq u e n c e is not a mere reg u l a r i t y of behaviour, but that it is an ’ach ieved o r d e r l i n e s s , ’ i.e., a mea ning ful str uctu re c o n s t r u c t e d step by step by the conversants. The s t r onge st e v i denc e for arguing that a g iv en r e g ular ity reaches an ’ach i e v e d o r d e r l i n e s s ’ w ou ld consist in s ho wing that when the giv en reg ular ity is not fully rea lized by the con vers ants, they the msel ves indicate their r e c ogni tion
(2) T.: w y p isan ie recepty i, (.) P .: i na tym k o n i e c .= T . : * i na tym koniec p r a w d a :? (stylistic translation) you get a recipe and,
(.) and t h a t ’s it.* = and t h a t ’s it ri:ght? T. Therapist P. Patient : p r o l o n g e d sound ? ris ing int onat ion
of that event in the c ou rse of further con v e r s a t i o n . However, in the case of the seq uence p r e sent ed here, we are s u p p o s e d l y d ea ling with a less p a t t e r n e d structure, whi ch is not a n a l y s a b l a in the way that we have mentioned. We should then look for a d i f fere nt way of sho wing the ’m e t h o d i c a l ’ and ’m e a n i n g f u l ’ c h a r a c t e r of this structure. This might be ach i e v e d by p o i n t i n g to the r e l e v -ance of the sequence to the rest of the con v e r s a t i o n . In other words, we are looking for the e v i denc e that the s e q u e n c e is a m e a -ningful interactional con s e q u e n c e of what went b ef ore it, and at the same time we are also int eres ted in p o i n t i n g out the c o n s e q u e n c e s to whi ch this seq uenc e will lead in further c o n v ers ation . On the basis of initial o b s e r v a t i o n s I wou ld c la im that there is str ong evi dence for the ’o r d e r e d ’ p l a ceme nt of the s e q u e n c e in the b r o a d -er c o n v e rs ation al context.
Another version of the seq uence o c c urs whe n the s e q uenc e is int rodu ced not by the the rapist but by the patient. In one var iant of the seq uenc e the pat ient does not c o m p l e t e his u t t e r a n c e and sus pends his intonation. A short p au se follows. However, a f t e r -wards the therapist does not accept the i n t erac tiona l s o l i c i t a t i o n p ro v i d e d by the patient. Instead he says to the patients "go ahead and com plet e what you are saying". An ex a m p l e of this kind shows how the m i c r o s t r u c t u r a l d i v i s i o n of pow er is d i s p l a y e d in p s y c h o t h e r a p e u t i c interview. In the bas ic form of the seq uenc e the pat ient comes to be involved in the I n t e r a c t i o n game in-t ro duced by in-the in-therapisin-t, while the the rapi st re f u s e s the p a r -t i c ipa-t ion in -the ana logo us game when p r o p o s e d by -the pa-tien-t.
The remarks w hi ch have been fo r m u l a t e d above have an i n t r o -d uc tory character, and their p r e s e n t a t i o n in the pr e s e n t form was m o t i v a t e d by the need to i l l ustr ate a n u m b e r of p h e nome na i n v e s t i g a t e d by c o n v e r s a t i o n ana lysi s and the d e g ree of m i n u t e -ness and sys t e m a t i c i t y req u i r e d in this type of research.
In t h e c o n c l u s i o n , I w o u l d like to r e t u r n to th B qqestio n of
wor k and e v e ryda y life. The com plex r e l a t i o n s b e t we en w o r k and
eve ryda y l i f e may now be s t u d i e d - w i t h t h e use of c o n ve rs a ti on
ana l y s i s in a more d e t a i l e d and c o n c r e t e way. E.g., an i m p o r t -ant task for f u r t h e r analysis of th e sequenc es i d e n t i f i e d above
w ou ld be to c om pare this seq u e n c e as it app ears in a p s y c h o
occur in other pro fess ional settings (court hearings, school classes, aca demi c dis cuss ions) as well as in the context of everyday c o n v e r s a t i o n s (at home, during train trip, etc.). This kind of c o n tras t analysis might lead to better u n d erst andin g various kinds of pro fess ional c o n v e r s a t i o n as well as d i f fere nces between pro fe s s i o n a l and everyday c o n v e r s a t i o n . In the latter case c o n v e r s a t i o n analysis offers the unique o p p ortu nity to show in detail what the p r o fess ional use of the eve ryday con ver s a t i o n r es ourc es means.
B IB LIOG RAPHY
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M e h a n H., 1979, Lea rnin g Lessons. Social O r g a n i z a t i o n in the Cla ssroom, H ar vard U n i vers ity Press, Cam bridge, Mass. S h a r r o c k W . , A n d e r s o n B., 1986, The Eth nome-
t h o d o l o g i s t b , Ellis Horwood, Chichester.
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Marek Czyżewski PRACA I ŻYCIE CODZIENNE
W artykule pod ejmu ję tzw. int erpr etaty wne p o d ejśc ie do b a d a -nia pracy. W części pierwszej pun k t e m wyjścia jest par adok salna obserwacja, i* czynności pracy stanowią zaniedbany prz edmi ot b a -dań socjologii pracy, zaj mują cej się raczej uwa run k o w a n i a m i oraz kon sekwencjami procesó w pracy, aniżeli samym p r z e b i e g i e m pracy. Uogólniając, nie tylko procesy pracy, lecz także szeroki zakres zjawisk interak cyjny ch w obrębie życia c o d z i e n n e g o oraz i n s t y t u cjo naln ego poz osta je poza zas ięgi em k o n w e n c j o n a l n e g o badania s o -cjo logicznego. W drugiej części artykułu o m a wiam główne kierunki int erpr etaty wnego badania pracy, tzn. szkołę Anselma Straussa, et- n o m e tod ologi czne "badania pracy" oraz analizę ko n w e r s a c y j n ą w z a -sto sowa niu do tego rodzaju rozmów, które są częścią procesu pracy (jak np. w służbie zdrowia, psy choterapii, szkolnictwie, s ą d o w n i -ctw ie itp.).
