About the Book
Morality is pervasive, touching all aspects of social life. The contributors to this volume provide an introduction to research on how morality is socially constructed in and through discourse, and the implications of this for the empirical analysis and theorization of morality. The volume addresses both how morality gets done through everyday practices, as well as the practical concerns that discussions of morality inevitably entail. It does so by delving into how morality is socially constructed in an array of communicative environments through the lens of a range of different discourse analytic traditions. Drawing on the conceptual tools of moral stance, positioning, responsiveness and authority, the chapters address the ways in which morality is enacted, interactionally negotiated, contested and policed. What emerges from these discussions and analyses is an understanding of morality from a discursive perspective that encompasses both morality as action, in which moral stances become the articulated object of action, and moral framing, in which the situated context itself is morally charged for evaluation.
Table of Contents:
1. Morality and discourse (Michael Haugh and Rosina Márquez Reiter)
Part 1: Moralizing in Interaction
2. The negotiation of moral improprieties in the everyday interactions of young adult romantic partners (Neill Korobov)
3. The morality of contested descriptions in everyday and institutional settings
(Jessica S. Robles)
4. Negotiating moral responsibility for remedying troubles in institutional encounters
(Bandar Alshammari and Michael Haugh)
Part 2: Morality and Narrative
5. Narrating the Indian hip hop OG: Ethnography, epistemic-deontic stance and chronotypes (Jaspal Naveel Singh and Elloit Cardozo)
6. Moral stance in mothers' stories in online peer advice-giving approach (Loukia Lindholm)
7. Mothering morality in the everyday violence of domestic abuse (Shonna Trinch)
Part 3: The Politics of Morality
8. Morality at the abyss: Grassroots activism, counter-securitization and moral authority in Rio de Janeiro's favelas (Daniel N. Silva)
9. Rituals of morality: Questions of regret and sorrow in news interviews
(Michal Hamo and Zohar Kampf)
10. The discursive construction of morality in political blame games (Sten Hansson)
Part 4: Digitally-Mediated Morality
11. Morality, metapragmatics and race: Debates about whitesplain on social media
(Judith Bridges and Camilla Vásquez)
12. Whose morality is out of order? A case study of deviance and respectability in online chats in China (Chaoqun Xie)
13. Moralizing (un)civil behavior: The case of interpellations on Facebook
(Rosina Márquez Reiter and Patricia Bou-Franch)
About the Author :
Michael Haugh is Professor of Linguistics and Applied Linguistics in the School of Languages and Cultures at the University of Queensland, Australia. His research interests lie primarily in the field of pragmatics, with a particular focus on the role of language in social interaction. He has published more than 120 books and articles, including the Sociopragmatics of Japanese (2023, Routledge; with Y. Obana) and Action Ascription in Interaction (ed. 2022, Cambridge University Press; with A. Deppermann). He is a former co-editor in chief of the Journal of Pragmatics (2015-2020), and is currently co-editor in chief of Cambridge Elements in Pragmatics.
Rosina Márquez-Reiter is Professor of Pragmatics and Interaction in the School of Languages and Applied Linguistics at The Open University, UK. Her research interests focus on how language is used in social interactions. She has published on indirectness, (im)politeness, pragmatic variation, face-to-face and
technology-mediated service encounters, multimodality and immobility, and publications include The Pragmatics of Sensitive Activities in Institutional Discourse (co-ed. 2018, Benjamins), Language Practices and Processes among Latin Americans in Europe (co-ed. 2023, Routledge) and Leveraging Relations in Diaspora (in press, Cambridge University Press). She is Associate Editor of Pragmatics, founding editor and Editor-in-Chief (2005-2011) of Spanish in Context.
Review :
Centering on the discursive construction and interactional negotiation of morality in a variety of social contexts and practices, this edited collection fills a significant gap in sociolinguistics and discursive approaches to this social issue. With this important and timely volume, Michael Haugh and Rosina Márquez Reiter provide an arena for cross-pollination among different approaches in the field of discourse studies and open the way for further investigations of morality in discourse. A foundational read for sociolinguists and discourse analysis interested in the discursive enactment of normativities.
While morality has been considered as a foundation of the social world in philosophy and sociology since their very beginnings, it is only more recently that an orientation to moral issues has widely become to be recognized as being intrinsic to social interaction. Using the methodological tools of various strands of pragmatics, the contributions to this volume show how moral stances and evaluations are ascribed, negotiated and presupposed in often very subtle and hidden ways in social interaction. Both the ubiquity and the contextual sensitivity of moral concerns of everyday conduct are marvellously articulated in detailed studies of a stunning variety of social fields. The volume is a must-read for everybody interested in the foundations of the interactional order.
Yes, the topic of morality is not new in academia, having been discussed in anthropology, sociology, psychology and more. Yes, there have been some studies looking at morality and language / discourse. But, no, nobody - until now - has drawn the language threads together, creating a tapestry of scholarly riches. This volume encompasses speech acts, communicative environments, participants and more, across a particularly broad range of areas - from domestic abuse through politics to social media. It insightfully, subtlety and critically examines their engagement with morality, and in the process sets a research agenda for the future.
Morality in Discourse is a welcome addition to the growing "moral turn" across the social sciences and humanities. As the editors, Michael Haugh and Rosina Marquez Reiter, point out, if we take seriously the idea that morality saturates everyday experience, then it is crucial that we give close, scrupulous attention to the ebb and flow of language use in ordinary interactions. This volume does an excellent job of showing how it's done and what the payoff can be.
In the past decade the study of morality has been systematically rethought by researchers who have focused on the way moral concerns are embedded in a range of intricate ways in unfolding talk. Morality in this arena is bound up with knowledge, asymmetry and issues of affiliation and interactional alignment. Haugh and Marquez Reiter's collection is an important and welcome addition to this literature, developing some of its fundamental themes in a range of different settings, cultures and modalities (as varied as romantic partner talk, political disagreement, Indian hip hop). This is essential reading for anyone concerned with the current state of the art in this field.
Accountability and responsibility have been part of discourse-analytical awareness for quite a while. Morality in Discourse provides them with a solid theoretical home, the much-needed step to build upon.
