This study examines a telephone switchboard that provides sex information to anonymous callers. Telephone volunteers undergo a training program in which they are taught a philosophical charter about sex that they are expected to follow in handling calls. Once working the telephone, volunteers creatively apply this charter to make sense of the calls they receive. Charter concerns, it is argued, serve to organize volunteers' telephone activities.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BARLEY, S.
(1983) “Semiotics and the study of organizational and occupational cultures.”Admin. Sci. Q.3: 393-413.
2.
BITTNER, E.
(1965) “The concept of organization.”Social Research32: 230-255.
3.
BROADHEAD, R. S.
(1986) “Directing intervention from afar: the telephone dynamics of managing acute poisonings.”J. of Health and Social Behavior27: 303-316.
4.
DINGWELL, R.
and P. M. STRONG (1985) “The interactional study of organizations: a critique and reformulation.”Urban Life14: 205-231.
5.
FRIEDSON, E.
(1966) “Disability as social deviance,” pp. 71-99 in M. B. Sussman (ed.) Sociology and Rehabilitation.Washington, DC: American Sociological Association.
6.
GARFINKEL, H.
(1956) “Some sociological concepts and methods for psychiatrists.”Psychiatric Research Reports6: 181-195.
7.
GARFINKEL, H.
(1967) Studies in Ethnomethodology.Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
8.
GLEESON, D.
and M. ERBAN (1976) “Meaning in context: notes towards a critique of ethnomethodology.”British J. of Sociology27: 474-483.
9.
GOFFMAN, E.
(1968) Asylums.Harmondsworth: Penguin.
10.
HUGHES, E. C.
(1956) Men and Their Work.Glencoe, IL: Free Press.
11.
McHUGH, P.
(1968) Defining the Situation.Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill.
12.
MANNING, P. K.
(1987) Semiotics and Fieldwork.Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
13.
MEYER, J. W.
and B. ROWEN (1978) “The structure of educational organizations,” pp. 78-109 in M. W. Meyeret al. (eds.) Environment and Organizations.San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
14.
National Sex Forum
(1975) SARguide: Sexual Attitude Restructuring for a Better Sex Life.San Francisco: author.
15.
STRAUSS, A. L.
(1978) Negotiations: Varieties, Contexts, Processes, and Social Order.San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
16.
WHALEN, M. R.
and D. H. ZIMMERMAN (1987) “Sequential and institutional contexts in calls for help.”Social Psychology Q.50: 172-185.