Conversation analysis, institutions, and rituals

Abstract

By relating conversation analysis (CA), in particular CA research on institutional<br/>interaction to such research traditions as sociological institutionalism, new<br/>materialism, and ritual theory, the article illustrates how CA scholarship can<br/>contribute to macrosociological theorizing. This argument is illustrated by how<br/>national parliaments are organized as institutions. The main point made in the article<br/>is that occasions of what CA calls institutional interaction should be considered as<br/>rituals. Although those occasions are scripted ceremonial performances wherein<br/>social pressure, material conditions, or avoidance of punishment make actors<br/>conform, they still play a role in constituting social order by making participants<br/>honor the rules and principles codified in an organization’s frontstage events. The<br/>article also underlines that organizational arrangements do not determine what<br/>actors can say or do, but they impose limits and conditions on people’s conduct.<br/>Finally, the paper suggests that it is through such arrangements of institutional<br/>interaction that social structure is created, maintained, and naturalized.