SI0614 EM Coursework
Analytic Memo
The transcription presents an account of a conversation between one male and two females at a corporate gathering. The individuals were subjected to a scenario of social interaction at an office event wherein the tall male with a beard started a conversation with the two females.
There does not exist any description of the corporate roles of the individuals. The data transcription was initiated by a friendly talk at the beginning and an introduction which was followed by the discussion about the topic of the need for networking skills of the young professionals for success in their career. The discussion spanned through the manner in which the professionals should develop their personal brand for enhancing career opportunities with social media.
- M: What are you girls up to tonight?
- F1: ((Smiles at M))
- F2: We were just discussing about our careers
- M: Networking has been on my mind for the last few days.
- F1: (0.5) Networking is interesting.
- F2: [Yes, it is important to build contacts for career advancement]
- M: Social media and developing a personal brand is important for being able to network and find new opportunities.
- F1: LinkedIn has been very useful for me to display my skills to potential employers.
- F2: (0.5) (Networking is alright but personal band building is for celebrities and influencers)
- M: But building a personal brand is the essentiality of networking for new opportunities.
- F1: [Brings a glass of drinks for herself] That’s is a good idea.
- F2: [Goes for a glass of drinks and joins another conversation]
Figure 1: Conversation amongst M, F1 and F2.
Figure 2: F2 leaves the conversation.
Figure 3: M and F1 continue.
The sequence of events leading up to the conversation amongst the three people meeting at a corporate event is depicted in the images above. As per the images, the situation of social interaction amongst the people is seen involving one male and two females.
The images depict an aspect of the everyday conversation amongst people as a means of sociological analysis to represent a world perspective of the individuals from a common viewpoint (Heritage, 2013). The conversational analysis amongst the three individuals is done by referring to adjacency pairs as the statement of the male was responded to by the two females.
F1 complemented the male by showing appreciation whereas F2 added her own input about the matter.
The conversation amongst the three professionals depicts a sequence of question answers in an interactive manner having clarity and clear expression of thoughts (Collin, 2012). M questions the two females about their thoughts and what they were doing on the night of the party to which F1 showed appreciation in a nonverbal manner displaying the appropriateness of the enquiry in the context.
5 and 6 display an account of the sequential expansion of the adjacency pair. Both the females answer the questions of the male in a pre-expansion summon. The male took an account of the topic on which the females were discussing before putting his point and carrying forward the conversation based on this viewpoint about the development of career and networking.
The face to face interaction amongst the strangers lacks any kind of introduction exchange. However, F1 displays an approval of the statement made by M by stating that she finds the topic of discussion interesting.
The social interaction amongst the participants in the conversation is structured in a social manner due to the people being tied socially to the event in an intelligible manner (Ten Have, 2016). Both F1 and F2 initially respond to M in an appropriate manner which denotes the contextual availability of meaning as the participants understand the topic.
However, there is a deviation of the main topic about networking and career enhancement by M towards personal brand building on social media.
The evidence of sociological tearing is present in the approach of M towards inviting the other two females in the conversation as he seems to have knowledge of networking he presents forward (Rouncefield & Tolmie, 2016).
This also creates a common understanding in the minds of the two females who initially appreciate the topic of the conversation. There is radical reflexivity from F2 when being told about networking and how it can be enhanced by building a personal brand as well as the benefits of social media.
However, F2 responds by stating that personal branding is for the influencers and celebrities and is not applicable for career builders and professionals for whom displaying the skills and a decent profile on Instagram are enough. Mutual understanding amongst M and F1 are higher as they stick to the point of conversation and display the agreement.
The ordinary lives of the people participating in the discussion are perceived by the ethnographer by making continuous observations regarding the way in which they bring up new ideas and react to the statements (Vom Lehn, 2016).
The setting of conversation provides an account of the inspectability of data as well as its relevance with sociological descriptions. There is no account of performative utterances in this regard as there are no instances of the social reality being changed.
However, there is a lack of agreement amongst M and F2 regarding the topic of personal branding. Observable features in the communication between the three individuals are supported by the common idea of career orientation of the individuals and a desire to achieve in their lives.
In 9, F2 gave a brief pause after hearing the statement of M followed by the exchange of F1 in appreciation and adding value to the theory. However, she contradicts the statement and partially agrees to it.
Prior to that, both of the females are seen to briefly take a break for grabbing their drinks followed by which F1 re-joins the communication with M whereas F2 is seen to deviate and avoid the communication and goes on to talk to another woman. It is analysed that F2 disagreed with M and thought that there was no point in continuing the discussion due to which she opted to initiate a new conversation with another woman.
References
Collin, F., 2012. Ethnomethodology. In: In Social Reality. London: Routledge, pp. 39-60.
Heritage, J., 2013. Garfinkel and ethnomethodology. 2nd ed. London: John Wiley & Sons.
Rouncefield, M. & Tolmie, P. e., 2016. Ethnomethodology at work. 2nd ed. London: Routledge.
Ten Have, P., 2016. Ethnomethodology. The International Encyclopedia of Communication Theory and Philosophy, 1(1), pp. 1-12.
Vom Lehn, D., 2016. Harold Garfinkel: The creation and development of ethnomethodology. 4th ed. London: Routledge.
