Why? Contributor(s): Tilly, Charles (Author) |
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ISBN: 0691136483 ISBN-13: 9780691136486 Publisher: Princeton University Press OUR PRICE: $32.30 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: April 2008 Annotation: "Readers will find this book stimulating, amusing, enlightening, and engaging. The veteran analyst of political conflict and change has shifted the scale and style of his analysis once again. The result is a tour de force."--Viviana Zelizer, Princeton University "Impressive in scope and ambition, in the breadth of knowledge from which it draws, in its shrewd and careful use of Tilly's own experiences in public and scholarly life as well as in illness, in its acute observations in the materials it uses, and not least in the clear non-technical prose in which everything is presented."--Howard S. Becker, author of "Tricks of the Trade" |
Additional Information |
BISAC Categories: - Psychology | Social Psychology - Psychology | Interpersonal Relations |
Dewey: 302.12 |
Physical Information: 0.52" H x 5.28" W x 8.3" (0.54 lbs) 216 pages |
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
Publisher Description: Why? is a book about the explanations we give and how we give them--a fascinating look at the way the reasons we offer every day are dictated by, and help constitute, social relationships. Written in an easy-to-read style by distinguished social historian Charles Tilly, the book explores the manner in which people claim, establish, negotiate, repair, rework, or terminate relations with others through the reasons they give. Tilly examines a number of different types of reason giving. For example, he shows how an air traffic controller would explain the near miss of two aircraft in several different ways, depending upon the intended audience: for an acquaintance at a cocktail party, he might shrug it off by saying This happens all the time, or offer a chatty, colloquial rendition of what transpired; for a colleague at work, he would venture a longer, more technical explanation, and for a formal report for his division head he would provide an exhaustive, detailed account. Tilly demonstrates that reasons fall into four different categories:
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