Modos de conducir las relaciones interpersonales en interacciones de atención al público: el caso de las farmacias en Sevilla y Londres

Abstract

This paper offers a contrastive analysis of the "rapport management" strategies (cfr. Spencer-Oatey, 2000) employed by pharmacists and their costumers in interactions in pharmacies in Seville and London. The behaviour of Sevillians and Londoners was found to vary along five main dimensions or "socio-pragmatics interactional principies" (cfr. Spencer-Oatey and Jiang, 2003): (1) formality vs. informality, (2) consensus vs. self-affirmation, (3) dyadic vs. gregarious / public communication, (4) restraint vs. talkativeness, and (5) directness vs. indirectness in the formulation of the transation. Also following Spencer-Oatey (in press), the paper attempts to explain the motivations behind the preferences exhibited by bouth groups, with particular reference to considerations of "face", the goals that the interactants pursue, and their rights and obligations in relation to the type of activity that they are engaged in.