Lies, defeasibility and morality-in-action: The interactional architecture of false claims in sales, telemarketing and debt collection work

Abstract

Lying is known to be endemic in a range of business settings. However, to date, studies have not analysed how lies surface, and are spontaneously managed, in ‘real time’ interaction. Drawing on video and audio recordings, in this article we analyse how actors account for false claims produced in different settings, namely sales, telemarketing and debt collection. Drawing on resources from ethnomethodology and conversation analysis, lies are conceptualized as products of interactional organization, rather than, say, products of the mind or motives of social actors. Our analysis reveals the centrality of ‘epistemics’ for understanding how people handle, and seek to neutralize, the moral risks associated with false claims. Potential accusations of ‘lying’ are shown to be defeasible in light of claims that the speaker has ‘discovered’, ‘noticed’ or ‘remembered’ some pertinent detail. We recover practices through which false claims are transformed, with varying degrees of success, from nefarious to innocent accountings. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings for wider questions about the reproduction of work cultures that rely upon deceit.