ABSTRACT
The term documentary society does not have a definition predating this handbook. Part of the aim of this chapter is to define the term to enable those working in the field of writing and literacy to relate it to other more fully developed and familiar topics. Although the term documentary society loosely refers to research that investigates the ways written documentary practices such as record keeping, reporting, and policy and procedure development contribute to organizations and institutions, as a scholarly region, the area of documentary society is not well articulated or circumscribed. Hence, definition proceeds not by formulation, but by engaging the reader with some of the ways in which the significance of texts and documents for society has been theorized and by finding the differences and convergences that help to locate the concept. Rather than constructing a theoretical model, we are attempting to locate the phenomenon and make it more observable.
