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CHAPTER
5
ALIGNING FOR ALIGNMENT: COLLECTIVE
ORIENTATION TO SOCIABLE GATHERINGS
5.0 Introduction
In the previous chapter I mentioned something of the contingencies of
conducting social research in sociable gatherings - what I referred to as
social(b)l(e) science. Comments made there may well also have reflected those
pointed to earlier as to the nature of sociability per se (e. g. Blum-Kulka 1997;
Riesman and Watson 1964; Schiffrin 1984; Simmel 1949 [1911]; Tannen 1984;
Watson 1958; Watson and Potter 1962). To begin my analysis of facework as
alignment then, I want to consider how participants in each sociable milieu can be
demonstrated
to align for sociability in general, and more specifically, align for the
activity of sociable conversation.
I will first consider how participants come together to constitute and
dissolve sociable gatherings, in the enactment of what are commonly termed
greeting phases (see e. g. Goffman 1971; House 1982a; and Kotthoff 1994)
(5.1). Following this I shall consider some characteristics of general alignment
within what I will loosely refer to as main phases of gatherings, specifically in
terms of how participants align to the joint activity of sociable conversation (5.2).
Here I shall consider such things as the topics chosen for sociable
conversational in each milieu, and how participants generally align to sociable
topic development in terms, to begin with, of their general handling. (5.2).
Finally I shall conclude the chapter (5.3).
In terms of the study as a whole, the chapter can be regarded as the
most generalised level of analysis. Its primary function is to provide an holistic
or macro-overview of English and of German interaction in terms of general
participant orientations to engaging in and aligning to sociability. In the wider
context of the study as a whole, and subsequent chapters in particular, the work
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