Language and Power: Power Behind Discourse
LANGUAGE AND CULTURE
SESSION TEN
LANGUAGE AND POWER (2): POWER BEHIND DISCOURSE
Main points in this session: 1. Power behind discourse: Standard language 2. Power behind discourse: discourse types as ‘effects of power’ 3. Power and access to discourse
The idea of ‘power behind discourse’ is that the whole social order of discourse is put together and held together as a hidden effect of power.
Fairclough (1989) = three aspects of ‘power behind discourse’, i.e. of hidden effects of power: 1. Standard language 2. particular discourse types which can be considered ‘effects of power’ and which are governed by conventions embodying particular power relations (e.g. medical, education, law, religious discourse types) 3. access to discourse and the power to impose and enforce constraints on access
1. Power behind discourse: Standard language
The first dimension of power behind discourse (discussed here): standardization: -the process whereby a particular social dialect comes to be elevated into what is often called a standard or even ‘national’ language; -we ought to see standardization as part of a much wider process of economic, political and cultural unification which is regarded as tied in with the historical evolution of both any language and that of ‘community’ speaking it.
Fairclough’s (1989) example: standard British English: -standardization in the case of British English is seen as tied in with the emergence of capitalism out of feudal society in Britain; -the connection between capitalism and unification has an economic basis: the need for a unified home market if commodity production was to be fully established; -this need for economic unification required political and cultural unification; -and: standardization is of direct economic, political and cultural importance in improving communication because: -most people involved in economic activity come to understand the standard, even
SESSION TEN
LANGUAGE AND POWER (2): POWER BEHIND DISCOURSE
Main points in this session: 1. Power behind discourse: Standard language 2. Power behind discourse: discourse types as ‘effects of power’ 3. Power and access to discourse
The idea of ‘power behind discourse’ is that the whole social order of discourse is put together and held together as a hidden effect of power.
Fairclough (1989) = three aspects of ‘power behind discourse’, i.e. of hidden effects of power: 1. Standard language 2. particular discourse types which can be considered ‘effects of power’ and which are governed by conventions embodying particular power relations (e.g. medical, education, law, religious discourse types) 3. access to discourse and the power to impose and enforce constraints on access
1. Power behind discourse: Standard language
The first dimension of power behind discourse (discussed here): standardization: -the process whereby a particular social dialect comes to be elevated into what is often called a standard or even ‘national’ language; -we ought to see standardization as part of a much wider process of economic, political and cultural unification which is regarded as tied in with the historical evolution of both any language and that of ‘community’ speaking it.
Fairclough’s (1989) example: standard British English: -standardization in the case of British English is seen as tied in with the emergence of capitalism out of feudal society in Britain; -the connection between capitalism and unification has an economic basis: the need for a unified home market if commodity production was to be fully established; -this need for economic unification required political and cultural unification; -and: standardization is of direct economic, political and cultural importance in improving communication because: -most people involved in economic activity come to understand the standard, even