Speech representation and the categorization of the client in social work discourse

Abstract

This article sets out to examine the role of representations of speech in interactions among professionals and between professionals and clients. In particular we look at the way in which speech representation contributes to the constitution of social facts and institutional actions in the area of child welfare. Drawing on data from two sites of' social work (policy review interviews and case conferences), we argue that the representation of client and interprofessional talk is an important device in achieving or closing down a particular institutional categorization. Such categorizing activity constitutes key moments in situations where accounting is called for. Our analysis will consider categorization in terms of what we call event work' and 'character work' vis-a-vis the general notion of recontextualization. We will particularly focus on how clients' speech is recruited at strategic points in order to (i) justify institutional action, (ii) display professional competence, and, above all, (iii) categorize the client in positive or negative terms. Our overall position in this article is that the nature and teleology of speech representation is intrinsically tied up with particular institutionalized goals and activities.