INTENTIONS, INTERPRETATIONS, AND MISUNDERSTANDINGS

This article proposes a classification of social actions differentiate d primarily by the specificity of actors' intentions and observers' in terpretations. I develop a framework for the analysis of interpersonal misunderstandings by cross-classifying the actors' intentions on the one hand and observers' interpretations on the other. To illustrate it s utility, I then apply the framework to an analysis of misunderstandi ngs between interactors with unequal amounts of social power.