Speaking is what gives private concern socially usable meaning

Evidence

Apathy takes work to produce. This book shows how some Americans produced it in the course of conversations that engage, or push away engagement, with the wider world; many of the people portrayed here spoke, in intimate whispers, of a vague concern for homeless people, the environment, and even faraway victims of distant wars. Many had their own private analyses of the problems; many said in interviews that they had never voiced these ideas before. Empathy for foreign victims of war; worries about the environment; horror over injustice: only by speaking do people give these meaning and form, providing socially recognizable tools for thinking and acting. — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics, 95

Categorization

• XREF: Directly relevant to the reader’s solidarity question: spoken shared projects give form to concern; connects to the World of Strangers claim that meaning-making happens through social context. — connects to: Language is socially constructed and speaks through individuals; Public talk itself, not just outcome interest, creates selves and communities. — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics: how Americans…, 163; Speaking requires access to culturally specific codes that classify social life. (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Public talk itself, not just outcome interest, creates selves and communities. #expands (0.80) — Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding politics, 163
• Dialogue is inherently a political act with world-making purpose #expands (0.78)
• Language is socially constructed and speaks through individuals #expands (0.75)
• Speaking requires access to culturally specific codes that classify social life. #qualifies (0.72)
• Reference is fixed socially, not by individual consciousness #expands (0.70) — Alex Callinicos, Against Postmodernism, 327