Co-Operative Action

Co-Operative Action provides a new framework for studying how humans create action and shared knowledge in concert with others by re-using transformation resources inherited from earlier actors. Goodwin uses videotape to examine human action, sociality, and meaning-making, incorporating language, the body, and historically shaped settings, and investigates language-in-interaction, human tools, cultural diversity, and multimodality as outcomes of common shared practices.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 555 pages
Publication date: 06 June 2019
Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Co-operative Action presents a novel framework for exploring how humans collaborate to create action and shared knowledge by re-using transformation resources inherited from previous actors. This concept emphasizes the interconnectedness of our actions, as we inhabit each other's behaviors.

Goodwin employs videotape to examine in intricate detail various aspects of human behavior, including children's arguments and play, interactions within the home of a man with severe aphasia, fieldwork conducted by archaeologists and geologists, chemists, and oceanographers, and legal arguments during the Rodney King trial. Through ethnographically rich and rigorous qualitative analysis that encompasses the interdependent use of language, the body, and historically shaped settings, the analysis transcends the boundaries of traditional disciplines. It delves into language-in-interaction, human tools and their utilization, the gradual accumulation of human cultural, linguistic, and social diversity, and multimodality as distinct outcomes of common shared practices for constructing human action in concert with others.

By adopting this co-operative approach, researchers can gain a deeper understanding of the complex processes involved in human interaction and collaboration. The analysis offers valuable insights into the ways in which language, tools, and cultural practices shape our actions and interactions with others, contributing to the development of our shared understanding of the world.

Weight: 816g
Dimension: 301 x 289 x 31 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781108714778