Episode 29 - Emotion at Work in Banter, Impoliteness and Power

08/24/18 • 80 min

For this episode, we delve into three areas; banter, impoliteness and power. All separate yet inextricably linked. All things that are common in the workplace. My guest this episode is Dr Derek Bousfield and he goes by on Twitter.

We discuss what ‘banter’ is, how it is defined, why it is a healthy thing and is something that can cause division and friction in the workplace. Derek’s descriptive definition for Banter is ‘Insincere Impoliteness’ and we go on to define ‘Imploiteness’ as well as ‘Politeness’ and ‘Power’. One of the examples we discuss how to banter can be veiled as Impoliteness and how Politeness markers or actions can also be Impoliteness. All of this is down to... *drum roll* context.

As part of our discussion, we link back to aspects from other podcasts where we talk about face and facework (episodes 12 and 24), conversation management (episode 10) and in/out groups (episode 7).

Your references for this one:

Barthesian myth (around 16 minutes)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mythologies_(book)

Labeling (around 23 minutes) NB this is not exactly what Derek mentions but it gives you an idea where he is going with his thinking

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labeling_theory

Terms of address and titles (around 39 minutes)

https://www.thoughtco.com/term-of-address-1692533

Banter and mock Impoliteness (by Derek and Michael Haugh)

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Michael_Haugh2/publication/257198791_Mock_impoliteness_jocular_mockery_and_jocular_abuse_in_Australian_and_British_English/links/5b0d4772a6fdcc8c2537e291/Mock-impoliteness-jocular-mockery-and-jocular-abuse-in-Australian-and-British-English.pdf

Power (around 54 minutes) this is a fab book that explores the dynamism of power

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Power-Talk-Interaction-Institutional-Discourse/dp/0582368790/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1535050326&sr=8-1&keywords=Power+thornborrow

Jonathan Culpepper 2011 Impolitentess work (around 1 hour 9 minutes)

http://www.cambridge.org/gb/academic/subjects/languages-linguistics/sociolinguistics/impoliteness-using-language-cause-offence?format=PB

Derek Bousfield 2008 Monograph on Impoliteness (around 1 hour 9 minutes)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Impoliteness-Interaction-Pragmatics-Beyond-New/dp/9027254397/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1535051024&sr=1-1&keywords=Derek+Bousfield+impoliteness

Clare Hardaker on Trolling (around 1 hour 10 minutes) these are examples of her non-academic work

https://www.theguardian.com/profile/claire-hardaker

Lynn Truss ‘Talk to the Hand’ (around 1 hour 11 minutes)

https://www.amazon.com/Talk-Hand-Bloody-Rudeness-Reasons/dp/1592401716

Journal of Politeness Volume 14 Issue 2 (around 1 hour 12 minutes)

https://www.degruyter.com/view/j/pr.2018.14.issue-2/issue-files/pr.2018.14.issue-2.xml

Thanks for listening!!

Previous Episode

Episode 28 - Emotion at Work Stories - Depression

This episode picks up the Emotion at Work in Stories theme I started earlier this year. This time it is with Karen Teago as my guest, we take a trip into how depression has been a part of her life for 15 years.

I asked Karen to be on the podcast as she wrote a blog a few years ago (https://teagohr.wordpress.com/2017/10/10/this-is-what-it-looks-like/) and it affected me then and still does now. Depression is one of the things that are both talked about and not talked about all at the same time. With Karen being willing to be open and frank about her experiences it was important to me that I create a place and space to allow a depth of exploration of the topic.

This is a frank and honest episode and our conversation lasted for nearly an hour and twenty minutes so there is a lot to listen to. If you are affected by anything in this episode then there are support options open to you:

The Samaritans can be contacted here https://www.samaritans.org/how-we-can-help-you or call them on 116 123 (it is free)

The mind can be contacted here https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/helplines/

You can also call the NHS on 111 or make an appointment with your local GP

We explore her experiences with depression as a condition, with medication, with postnatal depression, the important area of disclosure and how guilt has been a part of her experience too. I (maybe unfairly) ask Karen for any advice or suggestions if anything in the podcast resonates with you and I add my thoughts too. At one point Karen talks about how she became aware of her condition by reading a case she was working on.

After we recorded the episode she found this paragraph from 'Notes on a Nervous Planet' by Matt Haig (@matthaig1) that she felt better explained her experience:

"Later, doctors would offer labels. 'Panic disorder', 'generalized anxiety disorder' and 'depression'. These labels were worrying, but also important because they gave me something to work with. They stopped me from feeling like an alien. I was a human being with human illnesses, which other humans have had - millions and millions of humans - and most of them had either overcome their illnesses or had somehow managed to live with them. Even after I knew the names of the illnesses I had, I believed they were all stemming from inside me. They were just there, the way the grand canyon was just there"

Here's a link to the full book - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Notes-Nervous-Planet-Matt-Haig/dp/1786892677

With this being a Stories episode there aren’t many references as such. There are some things we talk about and here are the links to those things:

The unexpected yet innocuous question came from Margaret Burnside @margaretburnsid

The book on sleep Karen references is https://www.amazon.co.uk/Why-We-Sleep-Science-Dreams/dp/0241269067

The Mind Website with details for resources for Corporate partners https://www.mind.org.uk/search-results?q=guidelines%20for%20corporate%20partners

More information for breastfeeding and taking medication https://www.breastfeeding-and-medication.co.uk/

Next Episode

Episode 30 - Emotion at Work Stories - Working as an unhealed Victim of Child Abuse

As is often the case with our ‘stories’ series, the content has the potential to affect people, and so fair listener, I want you to take care with this episode, please. I am talking with my guest Katrina Colliner about how being an unhealed victim of child abuse affected her in the workplace. She now describes herself as a ‘victor over’ her abuse and you can hear more about what she means by that in the episode.

If you are affected by what we talk about and you are feeling particularly vulnerable, please remember you can call the Samaritans at any time on 116 123 and I have googled other places of support and added links the sites and organizations I found below.

As this is a ‘stories’ episode there are no ‘references’ as such, there were a few things in particular that Katrina mentioned as things that helped her and I have added those too.

Thanks for listening

References and links

https://www.samaritans.org

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-compassion-chronicles/201501/healing-the-shame-childhood-abuse-through-self-compassion

https://napac.org.uk

Katrina mentioned Pia Mellody and that is a person, here is a link to her site

http://piamellody.com