Stokoe Elizabeth, Raymond Geoffrey, Whitehead Kevin A
Department of Psychological and Behavioural Science, The London School of Economics and Political Science, London, United Kingdom; email:
Department of Sociology, University of California, Santa Barbara, California, USA.
Annu Rev Psychol. 2025 Jan;76(1):531-557. doi: 10.1146/annurev-psych-020124-023147. Epub 2024 Dec 3.
This article reviews two related approaches-conversation analysis (CA) and membership categorization analysis (MCA)-to sketch a systematic framework for exposing how categories and categorial phenomena are (re)produced in naturally occurring social interaction. In so doing, we argue that CA and MCA address recent concerns about psychological methods and approaches. After summarizing how categories are typically theorized and studied, we describe the main features of a CA approach to categories, including how this differs from conventional psychology. We review the core domains of research in CA and how categories can be studied systematically in relation to the basic machinery of talk and other conduct in interaction. We illustrate these domains through examples from different settings of recorded naturally occurring social interaction. After considering the applications that have arisen from CA and MCA, we conclude by drawing together the implications of this work for psychological science.
