“흙수저입니다.” 사회적 범주와 디지털 담화 속 불평에 대한 고찰

This paper explores the operation of social categories in the formation and reception of complaints in digital discourse. It adopts membership categorization analysis to examine complaints observed in Korean Internet bulletin board postings. Four postings and their comments are presented as exemplary cases that reflect how categories are utilized in the defense of the poster's position towards a complainable matter and the participants' reception of the complaint. A scrutiny of the cases shows various ways in which categories are used. Inference-rich categories are invoked, inducing the participants to recognize an action or situation as nonnormative whereas newly arisen categories, which the complainer claims the membership of, are explicitly tied to a particular set of predicates indicative of loss or damage. Additionally, the invocation of categories or certain category-bound predicates may be circumvented as it undermines complaint being produced. It is also shown that the recipients of complaints disalign with them by offering a negative characterization of the complainer or complaint. The paper concludes by suggesting that the organization of social categories should provide an efficient method for complaining in digital space where anonymity prevails.