Citation

Licoppe C. Sociol. Trav. 2008; 50(3): 417-433.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.soctra.2008.06.008

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

How can a telephone hotline for helping the suicidal be seen as a distributed practice and collective skill? Based on fieldwork, this research reviews the paradigm of distributed action by broadening it to activities that imply not only cognition but also moral and emotional dimensions. Two limits of this paradigm are discussed. The first, illustrated with the shift from telephone calls to electronic mail, bears on the capacity for analyzing the development of activities; it leads to a discussion of the differences and similarities between distributed cognition and activity theory. The second has to do with covering up the political dimension of distributed cognition: how do the persons involved in an activity perceive what they do and act on their perceptions - how are they "concerned"? This case study of a counseling hotline by telephone and E-mail raises questions about the performative nature of the words used to express suffering. © 2008 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Language: fr

Keywords

Suicide; Media; Telephone; E-mail; Counseling hotlines; Distributed activities; Help calls; Helping relationships; Performative utterances; Theory of activity