Argument Culture : Moving from Debate to Dialogue

Name: Argument Culture : Moving from Debate to Dialogue
Price: 2.9 USD
Availability: InStock
ISBN: 9780679456025

ISBN-10: 0679456023

ISBN-13: 9780679456025

Edition: N/A

Authors: Deborah Tannen

List price: $25.00

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In her number one bestseller, You Just Don't Understand, Deborah Tannen showed why talking to someone of the other sex can be like talking to someone from another world. Her bestseller Talking from 9 to 5 did for workplace communication what You Just Don't Understand did for personal relationships. Now Tannen is back with another groundbreaking book, this time widening her lens to examine the way we communicate in public--in the media, in politics, in our courtrooms and classrooms--once again letting us see in a new way forces that have been powerfully shaping our lives. The Argument Culture is about a pervasive warlike atmosphere that makes us approach anything we need to… accomplish as a fight between two opposing sides. The argument culture urges us to regard the world--and the people in it--in an adversarial frame of mind. It rests on the assumption that opposition is the best way to get anything done: The best way to explore an idea is to set up a debate; the best way to cover the news is to find spokespeople who express the most extreme, polarized views and present them as "both sides"; the best way to settle disputes is litigation that pits one party against the other; the best way to begin an essay is to oppose someone; and the best way to show you're really thinking is to criticize and attack. Sometimes these approaches work well, but often they create more problems than they solve. Our public encounters have become more and more like having an argument with a spouse: You're not trying to understand what the other person is saying; you're just trying to win the argument. But just as spouses have to learn ways of settling differences without inflicting real damage on each other, so we, as a society, have to find constructive and creative ways of resolving disputes and differences. Public discussions require making an argument for a point of view, not having an argument--as in having a fight. The war on drugs, the war on cancer, the battle of the sexes, politicians' turf battles--in the argument culture, war metaphors pervade our talk and shape our thinking. Tannen shows how deeply entrenched this cultural tendency is, the forms it takes, and how it affects us every day--sometimes in useful ways, but often causing, rather than avoiding, damage. In the argument culture, the quality of information we receive is compromised, and our spirits are corroded by living in an atmosphere of unrelenting contention. Tannen explores the roots of the argument culture, the role played by gender, and how other cultures suggest alternative ways to negotiate disagreement and mediate conflicts--and make things better, in public and in private, wherever people are trying to resolve differences and get things done. The Argument Culture is a remarkable book that will change forever the way you perceive the world. You will listen to our public voices in a whole new way.

Book details

List price: $25.00
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Publication date: 2/24/1998
Binding: Hardcover
Pages: 304
Size: 6.50" wide x 10.00" long x 1.50" tall
Weight: 1.430
Language: English

Deborah Tannen is the bestselling author of "The Argument Culture", "Talking from 9 to 5", "That's Not What I Meant", & "You Just Don't Understand", which was on "The New York Times" bestseller list for nearly four years, including eight months as number one. She is a professor at Georgetown University, in Washington D.C. "I Only Say This Because I Love You" is her seventeenth book.

Acknowledgments
Fighting for Our Lives	p. 3
Both Sides Come Out Fighting: The Argument Culture and the Press	p. 27
From Lapdog to Attack Dog: The Aggression Culture and the Press	p. 54
"A Plague on Both Your Houses!": Opposition in Our Political Lives	p. 95
"Litigation Is War"	p. 131
Boys Will Be Boys: Gender and Opposition	p. 166
What Other Ways Are There?: Listening to Other Cultures	p. 208
Fast Forward: Technologically Enhanced Aggression	p. 237
The Roots of Debate in Education and the Hope of Dialogue	p. 256
Notes	p. 291
References	p. 315
Index	p. 327
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.