Chapter’s Main Argument
The author is trying to convey that speaking in itself expresses the identity of a speaker. The author argues that people define their social identity through the topic they chose to discuss, the choice of words, and the way they structure their conversations. When telling stories, the storytellers create a world, which projects their normative expectations of social values and conduct, and social identities (272). The author is also convinced that from the choice of content of storytellers say and choose to adopt help in socially and culturally locating their positions in the socio-micro order in interaction that runs through all the digressive activities. The author further suggests that it is not coincidental that stories always create an avenue for the socialization of adult-child relationships. This is because of the way a particular culture or social value is filtered in the plot and the development of the story. The author finishes by saying that the position of a person in society does not portray who the person is. Still, the social identity of an individual is either confirmed or disconfirmed by what the individual says in a conversation.
Main Concepts
Identities can become less or more evident depending on the external characteristics of an individual, such as physical appearance, skin color, clothes, and many more. This is because different people from different social classes, gender, and ethnicity bring with them different social identities (273). However, in an interaction with all the levels, it can be challenging to establish the social identity of different people who are gathered together in a conversation. Unless the discussions evoke or give relevance to communicative exchange utilizing interaction, their identity can go unnoticed. Another way of understanding how identity or a role is created is through using Auer’s analysis of the contextualizing process. The Auer’s analysis of interaction stresses the need to look at what happens during an interaction, on what is brought about, or what is brought along in an interaction (275). Finally, the author adds that the construction and the selection of the identity of an individual take place during the moment to moment in communicative exchange. The identity is identified when a person prefers to use a single variety of communicative repertoire instead of another, which in most cases, is available.
Evaluation/Criticism
The sentiments of the author differ in the social identity theory. Social identity theory suggests that people usually identify themselves depending on the social groups they are in at a particular moment. The approach suppresses the behavior of individuals and disapproves of the ways in which the social identity of an individual can be determined by becoming the primary determiner of the social identity (Islam, 2015). However, the author suggests that the social identity of a person, especially authors, can be determined by how they speak or by how they write their stories. I believe this to be true because, as the author, Franca Orletti, says that through the stories of any author and communicative interaction, the social identity of people can be evaluated. Furthermore, the author adds that the stories and the communicative interactions can aid in determining the position of the author in terms of culture. However, it is essential to note that when it comes to different gatherings, the social identity of a person can be challenging to know. This is because different people come with different identities, but if the various identity is evoked, it is easier to identify the identity of any author.