Introduction

Abstract

This special issue of JALPP focuses on responsibility in professional settings and in particular on how responsibility is manifested, expressed, attributed, negotiated and contested in the discourses of professional settings. The studies in this collection thereby also show the importance of analysing discourse from the point of view of discourse participants’ agency, accountability and responsibility, and they thus add an important dimension to existing strands of research in discourse studies and applied linguistics.

Reducing loneliness among older people – who is responsible?

“…( Norrköpings-Tidningar , 14 October 2016)The designation of responsibility in Excerpt 4 is primarily based on the idea that the municipality has failed to fulfil its obligations. The municipality is thereby constructed as the institution to blame (Solin and Östman, 2015) for its future plans regarding the care of older people, which are considered to be not fulfilling the needs of older people. The designation of municipalities as responsible can therefore be understood as a legal responsibility as focus is on the planning of the municipality's budget, which is a form of legally binding document that constitutes the basis for resources allocated to older people in need of care.…”

“…When looking further on how responsibility is constructed, the author of the debate article, representing a political party, is positioning his own party and the organisations and institutions involved as trustworthy and as taking on the responsibility (Solin and Östman, 2015) of reducing loneliness themselves. As Jolanki (2015) and Bergmann (1998) state, making others responsible is based on an agentic view, where others are considered to be capable of choosing, and, thus, being responsible for their actions.…”

“…Consequently, we proceed from an understanding of discourses as dominating ways in which, in this study, the responsibility for reducing loneliness among older people is communicated in written texts from the Swedish news-press. Studies on responsibility in discourses, can, according to Solin and Östman (2015), be conducted by carefully examining details in language and contexts in order to analyse how responsibility is negotiated regarding roles, rights and duties in relation to positions in society. To conduct a study with this focus, the concept of subject positions has been given a prominent role in the analysis (Wetherell and Edley, 1999; Edley, 2001).…”

“…According to Solin and Östman (2015), the term responsibility is often assumed to be generally understood. The term is, however, complex partly due to its multiple and even contrasting meanings.…”

Loneliness among older people in the Swedish media : Constructions, discourses and the designation of responsibility

“…The term responsibility is complex due to its multiple and even contrasting meanings (Solin and Östman, 2015). The designation of responsibility can be used to blame someone for causing, or for not doing enough to eliminate an intolerable situation.…”