Abstract
Encounters between citizens and institutions are characterized by communicative activities where questions and answers are crucial elements. This kind of information eliciting constitutes a necessary part of institutional work in order to efficiently process the case, but it also has normative dimensions. In this study the use of the record in institutional conversations was analysed. The empirical material consists of 30 vocational guidance conversations at a public employment office between institutional actors and long-term unemployed applicants. In these conversations two versions of the applicant were addressed: the person and the record. It is argued that the way the institutional record is introduced and how the two versions are handled in the conversation has important pedagogical implications in the work of transforming the social position of the citizen.
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