The last couple of years have seen a proliferation of works using positioning theory (see Mcvee et al, 2024 for the diversity of subjects). Nevertheless, a predominant characteristic of many of these works is, they fail to engage with PT critically (notable exceptions are McVee). In this talk, I will present some critical and constructive thoughts on positioning theory. Critical, not in the sense of being negative or tearing down but as addressing the conditions of possibility of three central notions within PT. Constructive in the sense of reconsidering these notions based on this critique.

The three central notions of PT, also often considered the PT triangle, used for analysing specific social episodes are, moral orders, speech and other acts and storylines/narratives (Harre and Langenhove 1999; Harré and Moghaddam 2003). The critical perspective adopted here will point towards two conditions for PT: on the one hand, the whole idea of PT is based on arguing against adopting too formal notions, like role, for understanding social episodes; on the other hand, PT is used for people’s dealings with each other and the world around them. If this is so, then it might be asked whether the notions within PT are still too formally conceived and perhaps considered from too individualist a perspective.

It will be argued here that PT is not aligned enough with its anti-formalist and social conditions, and a reconstruction of the three main notions will be suggested: replacing the notion of moral order with normative contexts, speech and other acts with interactions, and narrative with episodicality. The talk will end with considerations on securing the informal character of these notions, taking inspiration from Herbert Blumer.

References:

Harré, R., & Van Langenhove, L. (Eds.). (1999). Positioning theory: Moral contexts of intentional action. Blackwell Publishers.

Harré, R., & Moghaddam, F. M. (Eds.). (2003a). The self and others. Praeger.

McVee, M., Van Langenhove, L., Brock, C., & Christensen, B. A. (2024). Routledge International Handbook of Positioning Theory. Routledge. Routledge Handbooks

This presentation examines how Chinese “study mothers” (陪读妈妈), who relocate to the United States to support their children’s schooling, negotiate responsibility, agency, and moral accountability within the hierarchical sociocultural systems that shape transnational educational migration. Drawing on narrative interviews with mothers living temporarily in the U.S. while spouses and extended families remain in China, the analysis explores how participants position themselves in relation to multiple normative contexts: Chinese expectations of intensive mothering, U.S. school ideologies of individualized responsibility, and the power dynamics produced by immigration status, family separation, and unfamiliar institutional environments.

Using positioning theory and the narrative practice approach, the study examines how mothers construct themselves as competent, morally adequate, or struggling actors across three levels of positioning. The analysis considers how mothers situate themselves within the story world of their everyday caregiving and educational involvement, how they present themselves in relation to the interviewer, and how they engage with cultural master narratives that define good motherhood through self-sacrifice and that portray transnational migration as a pathway to new beginnings.

The contribution demonstrates how positioning theory can illuminate the moral and ideological dimensions of identity work in migratory contexts, showing how seemingly personal accounts of mothering are deeply entangled with broader structures of power.

This talk investigates positioning in citizens’ impact on sustainability policy-making. Citizens from a Danish city who are actively engaged in local sustainability activities were invited to discuss to what extent they perceive their activism as having an impact on sustainability policies and on how they think about a green transition of society more generally. Central topics addressed by the participants were that they felt that decisions are made “over their heads”, that they assume that democracy is staged but not real, and that they are fooled, since they cannot impact decision-making using the communal formalized consultation meetings with politicians.

Drawing on Bamberg’s narrative practice approach as well as Positioning Theory more broadly, the analysis will look more closely at how the participants position themselves in this discussion on three levels of positioning: (1) within the story told, (2) towards the audience, (3) towards cultural master narratives.

We will discuss how positioning theory and narrative practice approach contribute to a better understanding of citizens’ constructions of rights and duties within the broader framework of sustainability policies.

My contribution to our symposium is divided into FIVE parts. <i> I will start with a brief explication of the infamous hour-long conference call between Team Trump and the team of Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, which took place on January 2, 2021, <ii> followed by an application of positioning analysis to two turn exchanges of this conversation (between Trump and Raffensperger). <iii> In a third segment, I apply the same methodological framework to exchanges/comments on two Reddit-fora “changemyview” and “asktrumpsupporters” to illuminate how these exchanges resonate in the discourse of Trump followers. <vi> In part four, I discuss how positioning theory, as offering an analytic framework, can integrate analytic work on Trump’s rhetoric that has made use of ‘Conversational Implicature’ and ‘Plausible Deniability,’ <v> concluding with the attempt to connecting to Arlie Hochschild’s 2024 book in which she follows up on two of her key-concepts, which are “emotional labor” and “deep stories.” My presentation aims to showcase the potential of positioning as an analytic framework that is grounded in qualitative methodology for the analysis of political realities.

References:

Hochschild, A. (2024). Stolen pride: Loss, shame, and the rise of the Right. The New Press