Theorising disagreement

This collection of papers on disagreement adds new theoretical and methodological insights. It brings together interest in opposition in discourse with research on relational issues, traditionally discussed in work on identity construction and im/politeness research. We propose that the following observations in an attempt to systematically approach the understanding of disagreement: a) expressing opposing views is an everyday phenomenon; b) certain practices are prone to contain disagreement so that this speech act is expected rather than the exception; for example, they are in fact a sine qua non in decision making and problem solving talk in either ever day or professional contexts; other practices and contexts are less tolerant of the expression of disagreement; c) disagreeing cannot be seen as an a priori negative act; communities and groups of people have developed different norms over time which influence how disagreement is perceived and enacted; d) as in all language usage, the ways in which disagreement is expressed - and not only its occurrence per se - will have an impact on relational issues (face-aggravating, face-maintaining, face-enhancing); at the same time, expectations about how disagreement is valued in a particular practice will influence what forms participants choose. Against this backdrop, the aim of this special issue is to revisit the existing body of research on disagreement and to probe further in a variety of contexts in five papers and an epilogue to contribute to the debate of the impact of the context/medium on the interaction, the role of im/politeness in disagreements, the notion of ‘appropriateness’ in talk and the theorising of disagreement in general.