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The Argument Culture: Stopping America's War of Words
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 808.001
EAN: 9780345407511
ISBN: 0345407512
Label: Ballantine Books
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 384
Publication Date: February 09, 1999
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Release Date: February 09, 1999
Studio: Ballantine Books
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Editorial Review:
Do Americans argue too much? Deborah Tannen, author of You Just Don't Understand and That's Not What I Meant!, is an expert on miscommunication. In The Argument Culture she posits that misunderstanding is endemic in our culture because we tend to believe that the best way to a common goal is by thrashing out all our differences as loudly as possible along the way. Thus we are treated to a whole array of confrontational public forums, from congressional partisan politics to media circuses à la Jerry Springer and Jenny Jones, all based on a metaphor of war. What gets lost in all the shouting, Tannen says, is thoughtful debate and real understanding. Perhaps it's time to consider other methods of communication, she suggests. In addition to outlining what she considers the worst excesses of our argument culture, Tannen revisits some of the territory covered in You Just Don't Understand as she discusses the different ways in which young boys and girls express disagreement or aggression. Finally, she offers a survey of other, mostly non-Western ways of dealing with conflict, including the use of intermediaries and rituals. After reading The Argument Culture you might never again look at the evening news in the same way.
THE WORLD'S MOST FAMOUS LINGUIST OFFERS A COMPLETELY ORIGINAL ANALYSIS OF THE WAY WE COMMUNICATE--AND A REVOLUTIONARY LANGUAGE TO LIVE BY!In her #1 bestseller You Just Don't Understand, Deborah Tannen showed why talking to someone of the opposite sex can be like talking to someone from another world. Now Tannen is back with another groundbreaking book, this time widening her lens to examine the way we communicate in public--in the media, in politics, in our courtrooms, and classrooms--once again letting us see in a new way forces that have powerfully shaped our lives.The war on drugs, the battle of the sexes, political turf combat--in the argument culture, war metaphors pervade our talk and influence our thinking. We approach anything we need to accomplish as a fight between two opposing sides. In this fascinating book, Tannen shows how deeply entrenched this cultural tendency is, the forms it takes, and how it affects us every day--sometimes in useful ways, but often causing damage.The Argument Culture is a remarkable book that will change forever the way you perceive--and communicate with--the world.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Enjoyable read, interesting premise.
I've always enjoyed reading Deborah Tannen for her insight into the role of language in our society. Her basic thesis here is that North Americans in particular tend to couch discourse in terms of win/lose dichotomies. The first half of the book deal is very apropos of the current political season where individuals aspiring to public office are unfairly put under a microscope - every utterance under all circumstances heavily weighed with the objective of testing to destruction. Who among us, ... Read More
Rating:  - Give Peace a Chance!
Debra Tannen does an excellent job in The Argument Culture of bringing to the surface the problems with the way we communicate and how we can open a better dialogue with each other. Examples of chapters are: Fighting for our lives (Chapter 1), From Lapdog to Attack Dog: The Aggression Culture and the Press (Chapter 3) and Boys will be Boys: Gender and Opposition (Chapter 6).
Tannen provides excellent insight to communicating better. For example in Chapter 5 (Litigation and War) Tannen ... Read More
Rating: - Interesting
Required reading for my English 101 class. Very interesting in the sense of studying different argument styles. Looks at different cultures and how they express themselves. Different mediums and how they use the platforms to make a mountain out of a mole hill.
Rating: - Arguing for Culture
In this book, Dr. Tannen asserts not that people argue too much but that US culture promotes debates of opposing extreme views - towards winning vs. discovering truth. She focuses on the press, politics, the legal system, gender, science, education, & (as a foil) other cultures. She provides some ideas towards alleviating this rampant problem but not definitive solutions--there probably aren't any. Though she does refer to the Pendulum Principle & shows the present public backlash against dichotomous ... Read More
Rating: - A valuable exploration of an under-appreciated problem
After I read this book I wished I could send a copy to every member of Congress. The cultural predilection favoring adversarial argument instead of constructive discourse is a major destructive force in American society.
The thesis that we are excessively enamored of argument, adversarial stances, and polarization is well argued. Numerous examples serve to show how this plays out in different settings. These examples serve to heighten our awareness of when the "argument culture" is at play.
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