Systems of Social Action

In Systems of Social Action, author Giovanni Rossi argues that everyday cooperation is underpinned by a system of
social action, where the communicative tools that a culture provides to get others to do things are organized into a coherent array of interdependent practices. These practices range from directives like ＂Bring me a knife!＂
to questions like ＂Can you give me a ride?＂ to nonverbal cues like pointing or reaching out for an object. Rossi demonstrates that the use of these practices among family and friends is not determined by sociodemographic characteristics of the individuals involved, such as age or gender, nor by the structural distance or power dynamics associated with those characteristics. Rather, the crafting of everyday requests is sensitive to the dynamic, situational needs of social interaction: distinguishing between individual and shared goals, seeking assistance despite resistance, navigating prerequisites for object exchange, and orchestrating collective agency.

Based on his extensive study of real-life interactions, Rossi explores the mechanics of everyday request design and social influence. Requesting is more than just asking: it is a nuanced form of social influence that shapes and maintains relationships. These analyses drive his intervention in the broader theory of social action. The case of requesting in Italian forms the empirical basis for a larger argument about the anatomy of systems of social action practices.

Giovanni Rossi is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles. He uses conversation analysis to study human language and gesture as a system of tools for social interaction, with
special interests in action understanding, everyday cooperation, and cultural differences/similarities. He is a co-editor of Getting Others to Do Things: A Pragmatic
Typology of Recruitments.