This work offers a combination of theoretical critique and empirical study. It criticizes Alfred Schutz's discussion of multiple realities, Melvin Pollner's account of reality disjunctures, and Dorothy Smith's textual analysis of a story of a person becoming mentally ill. Cuff examines transcripts of persons talking about marital breakups and a radio program in which a family discusses a problem in the presence of a commentator and experts. The author...