Accounts

Abstract

An account, as the term is most commonly used in sociology, refers to statements that explain disruptions in the social and moral order. In this sense, accounts are linguistic devices by which actors attempt to reposition themselves as socially acceptable and morally reputable in the face of imputations of deviance or failure. Although the concept of accounts has roots in C. Wright Mills's 1940 article on “Situated Actions and the Vocabularies of Motives,” in Gresham Sykes and David Matza's 1957 article on “Techniques of Neutralization,” and more generally in the work of Erving Goffman, the term itself was introduced in its distinctive sociological sense by Marvin Scott and Sanford Lyman in their 1968 article, entitled simply “Accounts.”

Speaking through the silence: Narratives, interaction, and the construction of sexual selves

“…In turn, our understanding of sexuality shapes, informs, influences, and reproduces narratives. Associated with narratives, accounts offer explanations of interference within the social order (Scott and Lyman 1968;Zussman 2007;Goffman 1959Goffman , 2009. Accounts furnish a narrative with an explanation of inconsistencies or contradictions within the narrative or revealed behaviors that are unexpected or deviant, which broadens one's explained experience with their social world.…”