Week 4b - Talk in all female groups (Non-essay) Flashcards
Who spoke about friendship contexts?
Johnson and Aries 1998
What is talk amongst female friends like?
Who and when?
Johnson and Aries 1998
- Self-disclosing intimate topics
- Personal problems
- Intimate relationships
- Doubts and fears
- Daily activities
- Hobbies
What is talk amongst male friends like?
Who and when?
Johnson and Aries 1998
- Matters peripheral to the self
- More sociability than intimacy
- Work
- Sports
What did Johnson and Aries’ study consist of?
- 20 white females
- Interview in New England City
- Q’s about role of friendship in their life
- Reported personal talk, saying can’t talk to husband same as close friend
What was the conclusion of Johnson and Aries study?
- Close female friendship due to women’s historical social position
- Sex segregation
- Mutual support
- Sex-typical work roles
What was another study other than J+A?
Coates 1996
What did Coates study consist of?
- Based on recordings of female friends informal private conversations
- Also group of adolescent girls self-recorded over 4yrs (12-15yrs)
- Post-recording interviews
What did Coates say were the topics of female conversation?
- People, experiences and life
- Work, children, family
- Domestic matters, moral issues
- Fashion
What did Coates say was the structure of female conversation?
Story —-> discussion
or
[Story —-> discussion] + [Story —-> discussion] +
[Story —-> discussion]
CAN BE LESS STRUCTURED
What example can you give of Coates study?
Two women discussing family and health problems, follows the structure
What is the conclusion of Coate’s study?
- Same subject
- Discussion aimed at preceding story
- Topic gradually shifts
- Participants build convo
- Mirroring of each others stories, same topics
- Collaborative
Who wrote about stories, when?
Johnstone 1993
What did Johnstone’s study consist of?
- 58 personal stories
- 33 female and 25 male story-tellers
- White middle class
- 14-70 yrs
What did Johnstone say about Women’s stories?
- Protagonists often other people
- About violating social norms/embarrassments
- People helping other people
- Friends
- Stress
- Reported convos
- Details about characters
What did Johnstone say about Men’s stories?
- Storyteller usually protagonist
- Protagonist acts alone and is successful
- Heroism
- Other men as co-present buddies
- More detail about place, time and objects
What is the conclusion of Johnstone’s study?
- Rejects women’s stories as examples of their powerlessness
- Says community is the source of women’s power
- Less distinction between story-teller and audience due to collaboration
What does friendly talk consist of?
- Jointly constructed utterances
- Spontaneous
- Incomplete utterances
Define overlapping speech?
Two or more voices contributing to an utterance at one time.
Not competitive as contributions are on same topic
What does collaborative floor consist of?
Jointly constructed utterances and overlaps, shorter turns, more repetition and jokes.
Shared space, voice of group
How do females use front-stage/back-stage to construct their femininities?
Who, when?
Coates 2000/Goffman 1959
Frontstage:
- Performance carefully controlled
- Much more susceptible to politeness
Backstage:
- Norms subverted
- Distinction between performer and audience blurred
