To say and to do

Abstract

Most of research techniques in sociology are linguistic. This raises the question of the relation between what the subjects say and what they do. This question is usually analyzed from an idealistic perspective, which reduces language to expression. A pragmatic perspective of language —based upon Goffman and Bourdieu’s work— is proposed: discourses are subject’s practices in social situations. From this point of view, the question about the relation between what people say and what they do leads us to the analysis of the relation between the different «structural censorships» of the different —discoursive and extradiscoursive — practices in different social situations.