Doing being ordinary nonetheless: Navigating social expectations in a peer support group

Abstract

Peer support groups offer spaces where individuals with similar problems can gather to offer each other support and understanding. Successions of narratives have been described as very effective instruments in building shared understanding in such groups. This article adds to these findings by analyzing a single case in an obesity support group. It shows that successions of narratives can be used to question social assumptions of ordinariness which are exclusionary toward the group’s members. In their place, the group jointly develops and establishes an alternative and specifically inclusionary understanding of ordinariness. This redefinition offers members a sense of belonging with respect to those exact aspects which may be grounds for exclusionary experiences in other situations and equips them with alternative interpretations of such encounters. In the analysis, Sacks’ concept of ordinariness is drawn on to denote a dynamic, situated and relational accomplishment based on experience rather than norms.