Accounts

Accounts as Justifications or Excuses

The concept of accounts historically had its development and central beginnings in the field of sociology. The writings of sociologists such as Harold Garfinkel, Erving Goffman, and Marvin Scott and Stanford Lyman led the early theoretical work, which was focused on understanding how people present or excuse themselves to others when their interaction or relationship is disrupted or problematic. The emphasis was on people trying to communicate or account for the negative situation or social predicament in a way that maintains the interaction or relationship. In general, this body of work examined three questions: (1) What is the content of these accounts? (2) Under what conditions (and relationships) do people present these accounts? (3) What factors influence whether an audience will accept the accounts of others? This line of research continues to elaborate and refine the various types of justifications and excuses that people communicate to others and the consequences of these specific justifications.

Accounts as Story-Like Constructions

In the field of interpersonal relationships, current views equate the concept of accounts with more common terms, stories, and narratives. [Page 14]These story-like concepts emphasize first-person interpretations or explanations about why and how relationship events happen (e.g, initiation of sexuality in a relationship, pregnancy or birth of a child, divorce, financial hardship). These relationship accounts are told to others for feedback and support. In contrast to the earlier sociological concepts, this current notion of accounts-as-stories is more social psychological in nature and focus in that it embodies a wider variety of situations in which accounts are presented to others. Current work emphasizes accounts as cognitive processes by which individuals create, explain, and organize meaning about the social world.

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