Department of Sociology

People: Prof. Ian Hutchby

Professor of Sociology BA (Middlesex), DPhil (York) Department of Sociology University of Leicester University Road Leicester LE1 7RH UK Room: Att 316 Tel: 0116 223 1259 Fax: +44 (0)116 252 5259 Email: iph2@le.ac.uk

I took up the Chair in Sociology at the University of Leicester in 2007. Previously I was Professor of Sociology and Communication at Brunel University, where I worked for twelve years. Before joining Brunel as a Lecturer in 1995, I spent two years as a Research Fellow in the Department of Sociology (Social and Computer Sciences Research Group) at the University of Surrey, following a doctorate in Sociology at the University of York (1993).

Research Interests

Generally speaking my research is about the relationship between language and social interaction. I use the method of Conversation Analysis (CA) to examine how the social processes involved in language use relate to the structures of human relations and social institutions. The areas in which I have so far worked cluster under three broad headings: language and the media; language and technology; and language and childhood. 

Language and the Media

I have a longstanding interest in forms of radio and television broadcasting that involve largely unscripted or 'live' interactive talk (interviews, phone-ins, talk shows and the like). My book Confrontation Talk: Arguments, Asymmetries and Power on Talk Radio (Erlbaum, 1996) sought to show how conversation analysis could be brought to bear on such data. It was also an early attempt to expand the boundaries of CA by showing how power can be understood as an interactional phenomenon, emerging at the interface between normative structures of talk-in-interaction and institutionalised patterns of discourse participation. As well as appearing in numerous international journals, papers of mine relating to this work appear in major sourcebooks such as The Discourse Reader (Routledge, 1999), Language and Power in the Modern World (Edinburgh University Press, 2002) and the Handbook of Language and Social Interaction (Lawrence Erlbaum, 2004). My book, Media Talk: Conversation Analysis and the Study of Broadcasting (Open University Press, 2006) draws together aspects of this work over the last fifteen years and relates it to a broader discussion of the relevance of talk for an understanding of media communication processes.

Language and Technology

Stemming from my time as a Research Fellow at the University of Surrey, I have a continuing interest in the relationship between language and technologies designed to facilitate human communication. This began in the context of a research project investigating the possibility of combining conversation analysis and computational linguistics as approaches to the design of speech technology interfaces. My book Conversation and Technology (Polity, 2001) represents a major expansion of this interest which looks at how structures of discourse function in relation to the communicative affordances of a variety of technological communications devices. The book develops an approach to the social dimensions of communications technologies by combining empirical work in conversation analysis with a development of the concept of affordances, and applying it to multiple modes of communication including telephones, computer screens, videolinks, text-based expert help systems and real-time internet message exchange. Recent developments using the same approach include work investigating mobile telephony and SMS text messaging.

Language and Childhood

I have a range of interests in children's talk, particularly in relation to professionalised discourses such as those of the classroom or the practice of child counselling. My two edited books Children and Social Competence (Falmer, 1998) and Children, Technology and Culture (Routledge, 2001, both with Jo Moran-Ellis) contained chapters exploring the interface between sociological and linguistic approaches to children's language and interaction in a wide range of social settings. In 2007 I published a book on the nature of interaction between child counsellors and young children experiencing family separation: The Discourse of Child Counselling (John Benjamins, 2007). This emerged from an ESRC-funded study of child counselling discourse which was the first to use conversation analysis to investigate talk-in-interaction in naturally occurring encounters between counsellors and young children in the context of family separation and divorce.

External profile

I am a member of the Editorial Board of Research on Language and Social Interaction and of Language@Internet. I also regularly review submissions for a wide range of journals in the field, including Text and Talk, Language and Society, Discourse Studies, and others.

I was Honorary Research Fellow in the School of Social Sciences at Cardiff University (1999-2002).

I was Associate Research Fellow in CRICT at Brunel University (1995-2004).

Since the early 1990s I have been associated with the Ross Priory Broadcast Talk group, an international network of scholars in linguistics, discourse analysis, conversation analysis, sociology and media studies who are concerned with the properties of speech in the various genres of radio and television. Collections of work by the group can be found in Text, Vol. 17 No. 2 (1992), Discourse Studies, Vol. 3 No. 4 (2001) and in Andrew Tolson (ed.), Television Talk Shows: Discourse, Performance, Spectacle (Erlbaum, 2001).

I am also associated with international networks around the application of conversation analysis and other discursive methods to the study of therapeutic discourse.

Publications

Full Books Published

Hutchby, I. (1996) Confrontation Talk: Arguments, Asymmetries and Power on Talk Radio. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Hutchby, I. & Wooffitt, R. (1998) Conversation Analysis: Principles, Practices and Applications.  Cambridge: Polity.

Hutchby, I. (2001) Conversation and Technology: From the Telephone to the Internet. Cambridge: Polity.

Hutchby, I. (2006) Media Talk: Conversation Analysis and the Study of Broadcasting. Maidenhead: Open University Press. 

Hutchby, I. (2007) The Discourse of Child Counselling. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

Hutchby, I. & Wooffitt, R. (2008) Conversation Analysis (2nd Edition). Cambridge: Polity.

Edited Books Published

Hutchby, I. & Moran-Ellis, J., eds. (1998) Children and Social Competence: Arenas of Action. London: Falmer Press.

Hutchby, I. & Moran-Ellis, J., eds. (2001) Children, Technology and Culture: The Impacts of Technologies in Children's Everyday Lives. London: Routledge.

Hutchby, I., ed. (2008) Methods in Language and Social Interaction (Four Volumes). London: Sage.

Chapters in Books Published

Hutchby, I. (1991) 'The organisation of talk on talk radio.' In P. Scannell (ed.), Broadcast Talk. London: Sage.

Hutchby, I. and Drew, P. (1995) 'Conversation analysis.' In J.-O. Ostman, J. Verschueren and J. Blommaert (eds.), Handbook of Pragmatics. Antwerp: John Benjamins.

Hutchby, I. and Moran-Ellis, J. (1998) 'Situating children's social competence.' In I. Hutchby and J. Moran-Ellis (eds.), Children and Social Competence: Arenas of Action. London: Falmer.

Hutchby, I. (1999) 'Power in discourse.' In A. Jaworski and N. Coupland (eds.), The Discourse Reader. London: Routledge.

Hutchby, I. (2001a) 'The moral status of technology: Being recorded, being heard, and the construction of concerns in child counselling.' In I. Hutchby and J. Moran-Ellis (eds.), Children, Technology and Culture. London: Routledge.

Hutchby, I. (2001b) 'Confrontation as a spectacle: The argumentative frame of the Ricki Lake show.' In A. Tolson (ed.), Television Talk Shows: Discourse, Performance, Spectacle. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Hutchby, I. and Moran-Ellis, J. (2001)  'Introduction: Relating children, technology and culture.' In I. Hutchby and J. Moran-Ellis (eds.), Children, Technology and Culture. London: Routledge.

Hutchby, I. (2004) 'Conversation analysis and the study of broadcast talk.' In R. Sanders and K. Fitch (eds.), Handbook of Language and Social Interaction. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Hutchby, I. (2005) 'News talk: Interaction in the broadcast news interview.' In S. Allan (ed.) Journalism: Critical Issues. Buckingham, UK: Open University Press.

Clift, R., Drew, P. and Hutchby, I. (2006) 'Conversation analysis.' In J.O. Ostman and J. Verschueren (eds.), Handbook of Pragmatics 2006. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

Hutchby, I. (2006) 'Conversation.' In J. Scott (ed.), Sociology: The Key Concepts. London: Routledge.

Hutchby, I. (2008a) 'Technologically-mediated discourse.' In W. Donsbach (ed.), International Encyclopedia of Communication. Cambridge, UK and New York: Blackwell.

Hutchby, I. (2008b) 'An introduction to language and social interaction.' In I. Hutchby (ed.), Methods in Language and Social Interaction. London: Sage.

Journal Articles Published

Hutchby, I. (1992a) 'The pursuit of controversy: Routine scepticism in talk on "talk radio".' Sociology, Vol. 26 No. 4, pp. 673-694.

Hutchby, I. (1992b) 'Confrontation talk: Aspects of "interruption" in argument sequences on talk radio.' Text, Vol. 12 No. 3, pp. 343-371.

Hutchby, I. (1995) 'Aspects of recipient design in expert advice-giving on call-in radio.' Discourse Processes, Vol. 19 No. 2, pp. 219-238.

Hutchby, I (1996) 'Power in discourse: The case of arguments on a British talk radio show.' Discourse and Society, Vol. 7 No. 4, pp. 481-498.

Hutchby, I. (1997) 'Building alignments in public debate: A case study from British TV.' Text, Vol. 17 No. 2, pp. 161-179.

Hutchby, I., Fordham, A., Gilbert, N. and Wooffitt, R. (1997) 'Modelling talk in context: An exploration in the computational modelling of dialogue.' Sociology and Sociological Research, No. 29. University of Surrey.

Hutchby, I. (1998) 'Where is the discourse? A response to Meinhof and Richardson.' Current Issues in Language and Society, Vol. 5 No. 4, pp. 274-277.

Hutchby, I. (1999a) 'Frame attunement and footing in the organisation of talk radio openings.' Journal of Sociolinguistics, Vol. 3 No. 1, pp. 41-64.

Hutchby, I. (1999b) 'Beyond agnosticism: Conversation analysis and the sociological agenda.' Research on Language and Social Interaction, Vol. 32 No. 1-2, pp. 85-93.

Hutchby, I. (1999c) 'Rhetorical strategies in audience participation debates on radio and TV.' Research on Language and Social Interaction, Vol. 32 No. 3, pp. 243-267.

Hutchby, I (2001a) 'Oh, irony and sequential ambiguity in arguments.' Discourse and Society, Vol. 12 No. 2, pp. 147-165.

Hutchby, I. (2001b) 'Technologies, texts and affordances.' Sociology, Vol. 35 No 2, pp. 441-456.

Hutchby, I. (2001c) 'Witnessing: The use of first-hand knowledge in legitimating lay opinions on talk radio.' Discourse Studies, Vol. 3 No. 4, pp. 481-497.

Hutchby, I. (2002) 'Resisting the incitement to talk in child counselling: Aspects of the utterance "I don't know".' Discourse Studies, Vol. 4 No. 2, pp. 147-168.

Hutchby, I. (2003) 'Affordances and the analysis of technologically mediated interaction.' Sociology, Vol. 37 No. 3, pp. 581-589.

Speer, S.A. and Hutchby, I. (2003a) 'From ethics to analytics: Aspects of participants' orientations to the presence and relevance of recording technologies.' Sociology, Vol. 37 No. 2, pp. 315-337.

Speer, S.A. and Hutchby, I. (2003b) 'Methodology needs analytics: A rejoinder to Martyn Hammersley.' Sociology, Vol. 37 No. 2, pp. 353-359.

Hutchby, I. (2005a) 'Children's talk and social competence.' Children and Society, Vol. 19 No. 1, pp. 66-73.

Hutchby, I. (2005b) 'Active listening: Formulations and the elicitation of feelings-talk in child counselling.' Research on Language and Social Interaction, Vol. 38 No. 3, pp. 303-329.

Hutchby, I. (2005c) 'Incommensurable studies of mobile phone conversation.' Discourse Studies, Vol. 7 No. 6, pp. 663-670.

Hutchby, I. and Barnett, S. (2005) 'Aspects of the sequential organisation of mobile phone conversation.' Discourse Studies, Vol. 7 No.2, pp. 147-171.

Seale, C., Butler, C., Hutchby, I., Kinnersley, P. and Rollnick, S. (2007) 'Negotiating frame ambiguity: A study of simulated encounters in medical education.' Communication and Medicine, Vol. 4 No. 2, pp. 177-188.

Hutchby, I. (2008) 'Participants' orientations to interruptions, rudeness and other impolite acts in talk-in-interaction.' Journal of Politeness Research: Special Issue on Impoliteness and Rudeness.

Hutchby, I. and Tanna, V. (2008) 'Aspects of sequential organisation in text message exchange.' Discourse and Communication, Vol. 2 No. 2, pp. 143-164.

Successful Grants

'Responding to Family Separation: An Analysis of Children's Talk in Counselling.' £41,128. Economic and Social Research Council, UK. Principal Investigator. 1999-2001.

'Digital Tools for Language Teaching in Secondary School.' £89,672. Economic and Social Research Council, UK, KTP Grant (collaboration between Brunel University and Slough Grammar School). With Prof. T. Wydell and Prof. M. Cortazzi. 2002-2006.

Current Teaching

• Society in Transformation 1
• Media, Language and Interaction

PhD Supervision

I am always interested in hearing from potential PhD students who wish to develop their knowledge and analytical skills in conversation analysis, or to apply a CA approach to a chosen topic, especially (but not exclusively) in relation to any of the above areas. The University of Leicester is one of the UK's leading research and teaching Universities and facilities for PhD students in the Department of Sociology are excellent.

Current Administrative Duties

• Director of Research
• Chair of Research Ethics Committee
• Programme Director, MA in Sociology