Account giving and soliciting

This article focuses on accounts as a pervasive dimension of social accountability in interpersonal and public communication. It focuses on properties of account-giving and -soliciting in natural interactions, research and news interviews, and the public sphere. The article closes by arguing that researching accounts in language and social interaction, and cognate fields, can shed light on intersubjective contexts and social worlds that influence and are influenced by the plural and contingent facets of social life.