The Organizing Property of Communication (Pragmatics and Beyond New Series) (Hardcover)

~ Francois Cooren (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

What is an organization? What are the building blocks that ultimately constitute this social form, so pervasive in our daily life? Like Augustine facing the problem of time, we all know what an organization is, but we seem unable to explain it. This book brings an original answer by mobilizing concepts traditionally reserved to linguistics, analytical philosophy, and semiotics. Based on Algirdas Julien Greimas' semio-narrative model of action and Jacques Derrida's concept of criture, a reconceptualization of speech act theory is proposed in which communication is treated as an act of delegation where human and nonhuman agents are mobilized (texts, machines, employees, architectural elements, managers, etc.). Perfectly congruent with the last development of the sociology of translation developed by Michel Callon and Bruno Latour, this perspective illustrates the organizing property of communication through a process called `interactoriality.' Jacques Lacan used to say that the unconscious is structured like a language. This book shows that a social organization is structured like a narrative.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Co (January 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1556199430
• ISBN-13: 978-1556199431
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
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• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,819,507 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)