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maintain the underlying equilibrium of sociability. Finally, if and when alignments
threatened this equilibrium, participants were shown to engage in remedial work
to restore sociability in and through their alignment practices.
The third of the central concepts - equilibrium - was drawn from
Goffman's (1967) seminal work as well as being influenced by related
conceptualisations of interpersonal harmony (see Chapter 1) and 'politic work'
(Wafts 1989). At a discourse level, equilibrium can be seen as synonymous with
'good' sociable conversation (Cf. Straehle 1997). More specifically, in relation to
face, equilibrium was used to refer to an interactional context where participants
demonstrated their willingness to mutually support both positive and negative
face needs. Rather than equating such 'working consensus' with 'lip service'
(Cf. Goffman 1967), 1 broadened the concept to include any sociable activity
routinely and normatively engaged in to claim and support both positive and
negative face needs.
These central concepts and propositions were crystallised in the heuristic
model of facework as alignment presented in Chapter 3.
Fundamentally, this thesis study has not been about conceptual or
theoretical development per se, but about trying to address a particular
research problem, viz. English - German differences in sociable conversation.
More specifically, the attempt has been made to address these differences not
in the fist instance from a linguistic perspective, but from a sociological one. In
this sense, the model developed in Chapter 3 has been a theoretical means to
achieve an empirical end. What then has this approach told us about German -
English differences from a sociological perspective on facework?
9.3 Alignment and English-German Differences in Sociable
Conversation
The research problem which this study sought specifically to address
was based in what were outlined in Chapter 2 as apparent differences in
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