The Social Construction of Being Free

Social Order in Psychotherapy

Abstract

Some behavior is observably free. Observably free behavior is often described as saved from constraints to which it might otherwise be subject. This description may or may not be correct, but this paper takes no interest in what description should be correct as that of free behavior or being free, nor in the condition of possible free behavior. The interest here is rather centered in the constitution of the fact of being free as an observable one, describable as the fact of being saved from constraints.
The fact of being free is jointly accomplished by all the parties to the interaction where some of them behave themselves observably freely and at will. The parties place their utterances and movements sequentially and it is in this sequential organization of their interaction that the fact of a party being free is made observable as such. In order to demonstrate this, this paper analyses two audio-visually recorded fragments of a play therapy session.