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presented here provides a necessary analytical backdrop to later, more detailed
analysis of facework as alignment within sociable episodes (see Chapters 6 to
8).
The approach to presenting and analysing the data drawn upon will be,
in general terms, ethnographic in nature. That is, rather then relying on
transcribed conversation, I shall draw upon largely observational data, my own
knowledge of both field of inquiry, and occasionally anecdotal'. As with all
chapters presented, the current chapter can be read in isolation as a single
piece of work. However, it should be regarded as one small part of the study as
a whole, and for that reason can only provide a limited picture of facework in
both cultures.
5.1 Aligning for Sociability
In Chapter 31 drew on Simmel's general comments on the nature of
sociability in terms of its ethos and status as a distinct social reality, marked by
solidarity and the minimisation of difference in terms of sociological variables
such as distance and power. Drawing on these comments, I want to discuss
first of all how participants can be conceived of as aligning to this sociable
reality -what I will term initially as aligning for sociability.
I am using the term sociable gathering to refer here to the sociable event
in its entirety, that is, gatherings begin when the first guests arrive, and
conclude when the last guests leave. As can be seen from appendix B, the
gatherings that constitute my data-set are not standardised, in terms of for
example length, location, dates, numbers of participants, gender-mixes, or
relationships between participants. Their only common denominator is that they
are sociable events, carried out as an end in themselves (Simmel 1949 [1911
As I outlined in Chapter 3, sociable gatherings display their own recognisable
ethos. Hence, people move out of a pre-sociable state, into and through
sociable gatherings over the course of their trajectory, then back into a post-
sociability state.
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