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Louise Mullany
“Girls on tour”: Politeness, small talk, and gender in managerial business meetings
Keywords: politeness, small talk, gender, performativity, communities of practice, gendered discourse
Politeness at work is examined in this paper by focusing on small talk as a form of linguistic politeness in relation to gender in business meetings. The paper embarks on a theoretical discussion of politeness and small talk, and also critically examines recent theoretical developments in the area of language, gender and politeness. Politeness is conceptualized from a communities of practice (CofP) perspective (Mills 2002, 2003). Butler's (1990) model of performativity, along with the CofP approach and the notion of gendered discourses are integrated to form an overall framework for the data analysis.
Small talk is analyzed in managerial meetings, drawing on data taken from two ethnographic studies of UK businesses. Small talk is highlighted as a multifunctional device and the importance of power when analyzing politeness in the workplace is emphasized. The analysis indicates that, despite being stereotypically associated with unimportant, trivial feminine discourse, small talk is utilized in powerful ways in the public context of workplace meetings. Women managers use small talk strategically to create solidarity/collegiality, as an in-group identity marker, and also as a device to place social distance between themselves and men within their CofPs.
Journal of Politeness Research. Language, Behaviour, Culture, Walter de Gruyter
Print ISSN: 1612-5681
Volume: 2, 02/2006
Pages: 55 - 77