Abstract

BIAR, Liana. FACE WORK AND STIGMA IN MIXED CONTACTS: A POLITENESS STUDY APPLIED TO PRISIONAL CONTEXT. Lingüística [online]. 2015, vol.31, n.1, pp.127-145. ISSN 2079-312X.

Drawing both on Goffman's (1988) notion of mixed contacts – defined as face to face interactions between deviant and non-deviant subjects – and on Becker's (1963) labeling theory, this paper discusses data generated in fieldwork interviews with prisoners involved with drug dealing. The paper aims to shed light on the strategies relied on by both researches and deviant subjects in the course of a mixed social encounter. The interviews transcriptions were analyzed according to the paradigm of interactional sociolinguistics, particularly the analytical categories concerning face work (Goffman 1967) and structure of participation (Goffman 1981). The analysis highlights the interactional tension between the tacit recognition of spoiled images, whose deterioration is due to the stigma associated with the prisonal environment, and the effort towards a positive presentation, which depends on the invisibilization of the signs of stigmatization

Keywords : deviance; stigma; interaction; face work; structure of participation.

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