ABSTRACT

To date, the study of communicated explanations has been, at best, unsystematic. There has been little recognition that many, if not most, explanations are eventually delivered to a hearer or hearers. These potential audiences constrain the way the explanation is ultimately shaped. Similarly, researchers have devoted themselves to the study of "accounts," for the most part without an accompanying interest in the fundamental processes of event comprehension. This volume is devoted to bridging the gap between these two traditions.

part 1|146 pages

The Nature of Social Explanations

chapter 1|17 pages

Constructing Accounts

The Role of Explanatory Coherence

chapter 3|19 pages

The Study of Causal Explanation in Natural Language

Analysing Reports of the Challenger Disaster in The New York Times

chapter 4|22 pages

An Economy of Explanations

chapter 5|22 pages

Lay Explanations

chapter 7|16 pages

Excuses in Everyday Interaction

part 2|148 pages

Explanations and Social Contexts

chapter 8|17 pages

Legal Fictions

Telling Stories and Doing Justice

chapter 10|16 pages

Explanation as Legitimation

Excuse-Making in Organizations

chapter 13|16 pages

Storytelling as Collaborative Reasoning

Co-Narratives in Incest Case Accounts

chapter 14|20 pages

What Went Wrong

Communicating Accounts of Relationship Conflict

chapter 15|14 pages

Accounting for Failure to Follow Advice

Real Reasons Versus Good Explanations