4 - Boy's talk, girl's talk: a theory of social integration

Summary

Here I re-analyze some of the results of a study of children's discourse by Goodwin (1990). I show how the implications of her data might reach far into our understanding of child development and social organization. Here is a preliminary example, which will be examined in more detail later in the chapter. One boy (Chopper) is ridiculing another (Tony) for his supposed cowardice. This episode goes on for a long time, about two pages of text, with the other boys siding with Chopper, laughing at his imitations of Tony's behavior, and by implication, at Tony.

Chopper: We was coming home from practice, and three boys came up there and asked us for money and Tony did like this (Chopper raises his hands up, miming Tony's alleged submissiveness) “I AIN'T got no money.” (11.19-25, p. 295).

My purpose is to show that this excerpt from Goodwin's study, and others like it, might have strong implications for our understanding of the child's world, if it can be positioned within a theoretical framework, one that would connect emotions, social bonds, and social structure. During the entire episode, Tony makes no verbal indication that he has been humiliated, or that the bond between him and his tormentors has been damaged. Like the excerpts involving the other boys in the study when they are being taunted or insulted, Tony maintains his “cool,” keeping up the appearance of toughness.