This study extended Brown and Levinson's model of politeness in order to explain more complicated forms of interaction and proposed three different types of f a m o r k : solidarity, approbation, and tact. The effects of three social factors-relational intimacy, power difference, and the right to perform a given act in a given situation-on the three types of facework were examined. Relational intimacy was the strongest positive predictor of facework. Its effect was consistent across different types of facework and across different levelsofpowerandright. 77w right toperforma certainactandspeaker'spowerdecreased facework, but these effects were mediated by relational intimacy, achieving significance mainly in distant relationships. The study also examined the relationships among different types offacework. Respondents used multiple types of facework when multiple face wants were threatened, and the use of one type of facework did not decrease the use of other types.esearch by a number of scholars (e.g.R 1987; Tracy, 1983) has attempted to explain people's selection of communicative strategies in terms of facework (Goffman, 1967). The model of politeness proposed by Levinson (1978,1987) has attracted particular attention from these researchers. However, communication studies based on Brown and Levinson generally found that the model could not adequately explain people's facework in communicative interaction. In this study, we extend Brown and Levinson's politeness model to explain various types of facework performed by communicators. In the process, we address several conceptual problems in Brown and Levinson's model includ-

This article examines young people's perceptions of their conversations with older people (age 65-85) across nine cultures−five Eastern and four Western. Responses from more than 1,000 participants were entered into a crossnational factor analysis, which revealed four initial factors that underlie perceptions of intergenerational conversations. Elder nonaccommodation was when young participants reported that older people negatively stereotyped the young and did not attend to their communication needs. On the other hand, elder accommodation was when older people were perceived as supportive, attentive and generally encouraging to young people. A third factor was respect/obligation and a fourth factor labeled age-irrelevant positivity described a situation where young people felt conversations with much older people were emotionally positive and satisfying, age did not matter. Examining cross-cultural differences, some East versus West differences were observed, as might be expected, on the basis of simplistic accounts of Eastern collectivism versus Western individualism. However, the results challenge commonsense notions of the status of old age in Eastern versus Western cultures. On some dimensions, participants from Korea, Japan, People's Republic of China, Hong Kong, and the Philippines appear to have relatively less positive perceptions of their conversations with older people than the Western cultures−the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. But there was also evidence of considerable cultural variability, particularly among Eastern cultures−variability that has heretofore all too often been glossed over when global comparisons of East versus West are made. A range of explanations for these cultural differences is explored and implications for older people in these societies are also considered.

No abstract

No abstract