Accounts, Excuses, and Apologies: A Theory of Image Restoration Strategies

by William L. Benoit

Because responding to complaints is such an important part of human relations, this type of discourse has been studied in various disciplines. However, these studies tend to take a narrow focus. For example, some scholars study apologies and excuses in everyday talk. Others look at public apologies in speeches. Accounts, Excuses, and Apologies integrates and extends existing work on this concept into a general theory. The resulting theory of image restoration is then tested through application to several instances of defensive discourse.

208 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1994

About the author

William L. Benoit is professor of communication studies at Ohio University.

Reviews

[Bjarne Siewertsen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the theory work, and when you start to work with it, you see it everywhere. But the very long section, where he discards others ideas bothers me a lot.