The Acquisition of Social Structure: Toward a Developmental Sociology of Language and Meaning *

This chapter outlines a sociological conception of the developmental acquisition of rules by children. The problem of meaning for the anthropologist-sociologist can be stated as that of how members of a society or culture acquire a sense of social structure that enables them to negotiate everyday activities. But the developmental acquisition of interpretive procedures and surface rules by children cannot ignore a theory of language acquisition consistent with linguistic theory. The idea of “adequate” socialization simply makes casual reference to the importance of social interaction and language. The idea of performance requires an extension of dictionary meanings into their socially organized use in unfolding action scenes. The measurement of social organization must include how embedded speech and its reflexive features enable members to mark off and identify settings into relevant categories for generating and deciding upon the appropriateness and meaning of communication.