The Argument Culture: Stopping America's War of Words
- Book Review,
by Deborah Tannen
Amazon.com
Do Americans argue too much? Deborah Tannen, author of You Just Don't Understand and That's Not What I Meant!, is an expert on miscommunication. In The Argument Culture she posits that misunderstanding is endemic in our culture because we tend to believe that the best way to a common goal is by thrashing out all our differences as loudly as possible along the way. Thus we are treated to a whole array of confrontational public forums, from congressional partisan politics to media circuses à la Jerry Springer and Jenny Jones, all based on a metaphor of war. What gets lost in all the shouting, Tannen says, is thoughtful debate and real understanding. Perhaps it's time to consider other methods of communication, she suggests. In addition to outlining what she considers the worst excesses of our argument culture, Tannen revisits some of the territory covered in You Just Don't Understand as she discusses the different ways in which young boys and girls express disagreement or aggression. Finally, she offers a survey of other, mostly non-Western ways of dealing with conflict, including the use of intermediaries and rituals. After reading The Argument Culture you might never again look at the evening news in the same way.
From Publishers Weekly
Tannen's bestseller You Just Don't Understand was a guide to gender-based differences in conversational style that set the stage for follow-up titles on talk at the office and in relationships. Here she branches out, applying linguistic theory to the whole compass of American culture and public life. In law, education, multiculturalist policy making and particularly in journalism, Tannen finds that "our spirits are corroded by living in an atmosphere of unrelenting contention," and that we thus most often argue emotionally when we should instead be trying to understand and evaluate rationally different points of view. The Georgetown linguistics professor is impatient with journalists who think that a two-sided debate between extremist positions makes the best story. The attack-dog posture of the press, she argues, is responsible for public cynicism about politics. Politicians in turn find that aggressive sound bites are the ones most likely to be publicized. This results in bickering partisanship that disenchants voters. She sharply criticizes our legal system for pitting one party against the other on the theory that justice will emerge out of a survival of the fittest, comparing this type of advocacy to the trials by battle used to settle disputes in the Middle Ages. Tannen's obvious passion for helping people understand one another is well served here by her clear, direct writing. Author tour. Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Well known for her analysis of the conversations of men and women in You Just Don't Understand (S. & S., 1991), linguist Tannen takes an even broader look at society in this work, which she reads herself. She describes communication in daily life as fraught by a "pervasive, warlike atmosphere" in which almost every meaningful discussion is more battle than discourse. Particularly in the United States, Tannen believes that we perceive all issues as having two sides, which results in instant and constant polarity. She provides many examples from the media, the political arena, and the legal system. She even demonstrates how technology, through such practices as E-mail flaming, fosters this aggression. In conclusion, she suggests a few ways of blunting the "most dangerous blades" of this argumentative approach. The concepts are interesting, and her analysis is well substantiated although Tannen spends too much time justifying her conclusions rather than posting solutions. This will no doubt be discussed widely and is a wise choice for current audio collections.AJeanne Leader, Everett Community Coll., WACopyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
The New York Times Book Review, Larissa MacFarquhar
Because Tannen believes we basically agree with one another, she wishes public life would rely less on fights and more on experts.... besides her strangely un-American attachment to mediation, what Tannen is missing is that conflict is fun. We love fighting for its own sake, even when one side is obviously wrong.
Entertainment Weekly, Lisa Schwarzbaum
In her trademark clear, well-organized style, and generously using examples from her own life, Tannen moves from arena to arena, backing her thesis with plenty of research.
From AudioFile
Bestselling author Deborah Tannen's insightful and unique book investigates interpersonal communication skills at this point in history. Tannen is a university professor and internationally recognized scholar, and her capable narration describes an angry culture quick to criticize, argue, bend the truth and resort to litigation, all resulting in the destruction of social patterns. In a forthright style, Tannen describes the way certain cultures resolve conflicts and negotiate for the higher good of all parties concerned. Her insightful and probing nature is obvious as she reminds the listener that it's not necessary to attack, cover up, polarize and oppose. Tannen provides a timely and crucial warning to societies to reverse these adversarial trends in order to create a more constructive environment for our children's future. B.J.P. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine
From Booklist
Does every issue have two (and only two) sides? Is a reporter who covers two sides "objective," even if one has little credibility? Is adversarial courtroom jousting always the best way to judge legal rights and wrongs? Because metaphors of battle are so pervasive in U.S. culture, Georgetown University sociolinguist Tannen maintains, we often forget that argument, opposition, and critique are not the only paths to truth and understanding; in both public and private life, the "programmed contentiousness" she labels "agonism" cuts off productive exploration and prevents dialogue. Tannen, the best-selling author of You Just Don't Understand (1990), examines manifestations of "argument culture" in the media, politics, and litigation and on the Internet; covers "gender and opposition," tracing different patterns of debate and aggression displayed by young boys and girls; and reviews techniques various cultures (mainly non-Western) use to manage or modulate conflict, such as alternative metaphors, intermediaries, avoiding polarities, and rituals that set rules and limits for opposition. Tannen shares ground with Amitai Etzioni and the communitarians but insists, "This is not another book about civility"; her goal is "a broader repertoire of ways to talk to each other and address issues vital to us." Others have made this case, but Tannen's visibility (and Random House's promotion) should inspire interest. Mary Carroll
From Kirkus Reviews
Tannen, who has gained celebrity for analyzing male/female verbal exchanges, moves into a broader realm in this often interesting but sometimes vague book. We live in a polarizing ``culture of critique,'' maintains Tannen (Sociolinguistics/ Georgetown Univ.; You Just Don't Understand, 1990, etc.) as she explores our compulsively combative rhetoric in such predictable areas as the mass media, politics, and the law (with the latter, as she points out, often marred by litigators' ``pit bull'' tactics). To specify the problem and better pursue a cure, she coins a new term, ``agonism,'' defined as ``using opposition as a required and ubiquitous way to approach issues, rather than as one of many possibilities of getting things done by talk.'' And she calls agonism too popular and prevalent, an almost automatic confrontational tactic. Though accurate enough, such observations are in themselves a trifle familiar. More searching are Tannen's comments on male and female styles of conflict resolution and on ``ritual fighting'' in such places as Bali, Crete, and Ireland's Tory Islands, as well as her reflections on the implications of pervasive debunking and one-upmanship in academic life. ``When there is a need to make others wrong, the temptation is great to oversimplify at best, and at worst to distort or even misrepresent other positions, the better to refute them. . . . Straw men spring up like scarecrows in a cornfield.'' Tannen is a fine, crisp writer and very skillful in succinctly synthesizing her material and advancing her argument. But her main point isn't new, nor does she look far enough beyond the culture of language to explain the phenomenon she describes. Consequently her solutions (such as advising that people talk about all sides, as opposed to both sides, of an issue) feel insufficient. Perhaps our polemical society is too far gone in fetishizing the often harsh culture of American capitalist individualism for such rhetorical nostrums to have much effect. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Book Description
THE WORLD'S MOST FAMOUS LINGUIST OFFERS A COMPLETELY ORIGINAL ANALYSIS OF THE WAY WE COMMUNICATE--AND A REVOLUTIONARY LANGUAGE TO LIVE BY!
In her #1 bestseller You Just Don't Understand, Deborah Tannen showed why talking to someone of the opposite sex can be like talking to someone from another world. 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 powerfully shaped our lives.
The war on drugs, the battle of the sexes, political turf combat--in the argument culture, war metaphors pervade our talk and influence our thinking. We approach anything we need to accomplish as a fight between two opposing sides. In this fascinating book, 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 damage.
The Argument Culture is a remarkable book that will change forever the way you perceive--and communicate with--the world.
From the Inside Flap
THE WORLD'S MOST FAMOUS LINGUIST OFFERS A COMPLETELY ORIGINAL ANALYSIS OF THE WAY WE COMMUNICATE--AND A REVOLUTIONARY LANGUAGE TO LIVE BY!
In her #1 bestseller You Just Don't Understand, Deborah Tannen showed why talking to someone of the opposite sex can be like talking to someone from another world. 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 powerfully shaped our lives.
The war on drugs, the battle of the sexes, political turf combat--in the argument culture, war metaphors pervade our talk and influence our thinking. We approach anything we need to accomplish as a fight between two opposing sides. In this fascinating book, 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 damage.
The Argument Culture is a remarkable book that will change forever the way you perceive--and communicate with--the world.
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