Recent Advances in Positioning Theory

Positioning theory opens up a new dimension in the psychology of interpersonal encounters, through explicit attention to the role of rights and duties in the management of action. People are positioned or position themselves with respect to rights and duties to act within evolving story-lines, and on the basis of claims about relevant personal attributes, the discursive process of prepositioning. Some recent applications of positioning theory are presented, ranging from simple interpersonal encounters, through positioning in a complex public but limited legal struggle, to the positioning techniques used to justify civilian causalities in warfare, to the analysis of examples of the discourses by which large-scale social entities position themselves in relation to others.