Conversation Analysis in Sociology: a Heuristic Potential and Methodological Perspectives

Abstract

The article deals with the elements of conversational analysis, which can be found in the theoretical works of Harold Garfinkel and Irwin Hoffman. As a separate course of sociological knowledge and the branch of sociological studies, it was offered by a student of masters of modern sociology Harvey Sachs at the times of scientific "turn" in sociology in the second half of the twentieth century. As this trend is far from the main concepts of the two social scientists, the authors of the article offer to consider the concept of GarfinkelGoffman conversational analysis as a directory. This form is most appropriate in view of the stylistic features of G. Garfinkel that appears in the specificity of his scientific language and I. Gofman’s predisposition to creating of new terms. Among the fundamental concepts we pay attention to such as: "sane fools","index expression", "and frame-background expectation". To confirm the practical use and empirical reliability of these concepts analyzes of so-called "garfinkelings" are used. At the end of the paper ideas regarding the practical usage and prospects of development of this approach in the general context of modern sociological knowledge are given.