Investigating transpositioning as an interactional achievement: Expanding the promise of membership categorization analysis

Abstract In social interaction, we take on and are ascribed multiplex social categories. The capacity to transform, transcend, and transgress the boundaries of categories is the ability to transposition, a necessity for thriving in social life in the 21st century. This paper has two related goals. Theoretically, it argues that transpositioning is an interactional achievement and to understand this process, one needs to inspect on a moment-by-moment basis how speakers move beyond confines of their social categories. Methodologically, it extends the promise of Membership Categorization Analysis and posits that when employed in conjunction with sequential analysis through Conversation Analysis, it illuminates how transpositioning takes place at an interactional level. We present our arguments through analyses of transpositioning processes in three distinct language use contexts: workplace, everyday and educational interactions. In addition to conceptual and methodological contributions, the paper sheds light on the relationship between transpositioning and the morality of interaction, the emancipatory potential of transpositioning practices, and the connection between transpositioning on shorter and longer timescales. Implications for pedagogy and human-AI interactions are also discussed.