Worlds of Talk: The Presentation of Self in Everyday Conversation

"Malone sets out to demonstrate that sociological notions - particularly those of symbolic interactionism - can profitably be used to understand what goes on in talk and that sociology itself would profit from a recognition of talk as fundamental sociological data. He does this by examining records of extensive contexted conversational fragments and by showing how the talk itself enables one to elaborate the concepts of self, interaction, gender, ideology and moral order. His arguments, documented by actual talk, are persuasive." Allen Grimshaw