Language as Symbolic Power (Key Topics in Applied Linguistics) - Softcover

Kramsch, Claire

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1108798896 ISBN 13: 9781108798891

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2020

Synopsis

Language is not simply a tool for communication - symbolic power struggles underlie any speech act, discourse move, or verbal interaction, be it in face-to-face conversations, online tweets or political debates. This book provides a clear and accessible introduction to the topic of language and power from an applied linguistics perspective. It is clearly split into three sections: the power of symbolic representation, the power of symbolic action and the power to create symbolic reality. It draws upon a wide range of existing work by philosophers, sociolinguists, sociologists and applied linguists, and includes current real-world examples, to provide a fresh insight into a topic that is of particular significance and interest in the current political climate and in our increasingly digital age. The book shows the workings of language as symbolic power in educational, social, cultural and political settings and discusses ways to respond to and even resist symbolic violence.

About this title

About the Author

Claire Kramsch is Professor Emerita at the University of California, Berkeley. She has won the Kenneth Mildenberger Award from the Modern Language Association three times, for Context and Culture in Language Teaching (1993), The Multilingual Subject (2009) and The Multi-lingual Instructor (2018, with Lihua Zhang). She is the past President of the American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL) and of the International Association of Applied Linguistics (AILA).

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2020
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1108798896
• ISBN 13: 9781108798891
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 292