How Scripts Harm

Abstract Chapter 2 argues that social scripts harm by putting interlocutors in double-binds: to either acquiesce and go along with the script, or reject the script and risk escalation or social cost. Call this the ‘acquiesce or escalate’ double-bind. While social scripts usually promote cooperation and coordination between conversational participants, they can also facilitate and coordinate subjugation and oppression. Scripts can also be coopted and manipulated in the service of subjugation and harm. This chapter will also show that the social cost in not abiding by a script is often tied up with the social cost of not acting in accordance with a stereotype. The chapter ends by discussing how oppressive scripts harm, as do many counter-scripts that arise in response to oppressive scripts.