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particularly amenable to such a heuristic based framework for the analysis of
facework.
3.2 Sociable Conversation: The To and Fro of Sociability
I mentioned at the start of this chapter a change in footing I would take in my
discussion of facework. This is a necessary one, as the connections I wish to make
here between extant approaches to facework and the nature of sociable
conversation is perhaps the most crucial of the whole thesis. In order to do this I
shall begin by characterising sociability as a particular form of interaction, before
moving on to consider the nature of the talk which goes on in sociable gatherings,
for what it might tell us about the nature of facework in episodes of ongoing
naturally occurring conversation
- what I will term herein as'sociable episodes'.
More specifically, I want to look at some of its fundamental dynamics, ones which I
think can inform the study of facework in ongoing conversational interaction.
To understand sociability as a form of interaction one must first understand
that it is guided by a certain ethos. Generally, differences between participants
based on sociological variables such as social status and distance are normatively
minimised lest they 'interfere' with the smooth running of sociability. In this sense,
sociable encounters can be regarded as apolite (Watts 1989 and Chapter 2),
displaying and calling for very little of the conventional politeness required in
encounters in the everyday world. To use Turners (1969) phrase, sociable
encounters are characterised not by a sense of societas but rather one of
communitas (see Katriel 1986), between persons of equal standing and with,
conversationally speaking, with equal expressive rights (Wilson 1987)7
. Further,
sociable interaction tends not to be goal directed (as are for example speech acts
such as requests and complaints). Rather, it can be regarded as primarily
concerned with association for its own sake between persons of symbolic and
equal personalities, interaction characterised by a 'frictionless free-playing' that
facilitates both individual expression and independence,
and a collective solidarity
which resolves the solitariness of the individual into a union with others (Simmel
(1949 [1911
]). In this sense, sociable interaction
is the epitome of what I have been
referring to throughout as equilibric interaction.
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