Conversation and Gender

'Conversation and Gender is the perfect riposte to those who assume that Conversation Analysis cannot account for 'structural' realities. Written by a top flight collection of scholars, this book is essential reading for anyone interested in gender in interaction.' David Silverman, Goldsmiths College and King's College, University of London

'Conversation and Gender shows us just how much more there is to know - and how interesting and compelling that 'more' is - about the myriad, fertile connections between two of social life's most fundamental social institutions. The book's rich diversity of topics and perspectives, incisive analyses, and clarity of expression make it a 'must have' for scholars and students across the broader fields it so expertly brings together.' Geoffrey Raymond, University of California, Santa Barbara

'... this volume is a stimulating collection of papers that are well organized and well written. Each paper contains an individual study, which allows readers the liberty to pick and choose the chapters they might find more interesting. Each of the individual papers draws on a set of audio- and/or video-recorded data from which their analysis and discussion branch out and thus posits a firm rebuttal towards those who assume analysis or accounting of 'structural' identities to be out of the scope of conversation analysis ... provides much food for thought as well as a plethora of data that may serve as a resource for students in getting hands-on experience in analyzing different types of data dealing with gender.' Hanbyul Jung, Journal of Pragmatics

Susan A. Speer is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Manchester. She is the author of Gender Talk: Feminism, Discourse and Conversation Analysis (2005). Elizabeth Stokoe is Reader in Social Interaction in the Department of Social Sciences at Loughborough University. She is the co-author of Discourse and Identity (2006).

1. An introduction to conversation and gender Susan A. Speer and Elizabeth Stokoe; Part I. Gender, Person Reference and Self-Categorization: 2. The gendered 'I' Clare Jackson; 3. Categories in talk-in-interaction: gendering speaker and recipient Victoria Land and Celia Kitzinger; 4. Doing gender categorization: non-recognitional person reference and the omnirelevance of gender Noa Logan Klein; Part II. Gender, Repair and Recipient Design: 5. 'Girl - woman - sorry!': on the repair and non-repair of consecutive gender categories Elizabeth Stokoe; 6. Gender, routinization and recipient design Sue Wilkinson; 7. Recipients designed: tag questions and gender Alexa Hepburn and Jonathan Potter; Part III. Gender and Action Formation: 8. On the role of reported, third party compliments in passing as a 'real' woman Susan A. Speer; 9. 'D'you understand that honey?': gender and participation in conversation Jack Sidnell; 10. Bids and responses to intimacy as 'gendered' enactments Wayne A. Beach and Phillip Glenn; Part IV. Gender Identities and Membership Categorization Practices: 11. Accomplishing a cross-gender identity: a case of passing in children's talk-in-interaction Carly W. Butler and Ann Weatherall; 12. Engendering children's play: person reference in children's conflictual interaction Marjorie Harness Goodwin; 13. Being there for the children: the collaborative construction of gender inequality in divorce mediation Angela Cora Garcia and Lisa M. Fisher; 14. Gender as a practical concern in children's management of play participation Jakob Cromdal.