Language and Symbolic Power - Brossura

Bourdieu, Pierre

Brossura

ISBN 10: 074561034X ISBN 13: 9780745610344

Casa editrice: Polity Pr, 1992

Riassunto

Examines the ways in which power is bolstered and extended by means of symbols. The book considers the importance of ritual in confirming institutions, looks at ways in which organs of power attempt to control discourse and explores the ways in which ideology can supplant reality.

Su questo libro

Informazioni sull?autore

Pierre Bourdieu was Professor of Sociology at the College de France.

Dalla quarta di copertina

This volume brings together Bourdieu's highly original writings on language and on the relations between language, power and politics. Bourdieu develops a forceful critique of traditional approaches to language, including the linguistic theories of Saussure and Chomsky and the theory of speech-acts elaborated by Austin and others. He argues that language should be viewed not only as a means of communication but also as a medium of power through which individuals pursue their interests and display their practical competence.

Drawing on the concepts which are part of his distinctive theoretical approach, Bourdieu maintains that linguistic utterances or expressions can be understood as the product of the relation between a 'linguistic market' and a 'linguistic habitus'. When individuals produce linguistic expressions, they deploy accumulated resources and they implicitly adapt their expressions to the demands of the social field or market. Hence every linguistic interaction, however personal and insignificant they may seem, bears the traces of the social structure that it both expresses and helps to reproduce.

Boudieu's account sheds fresh light on the ways in which linguistic usage varies according to considerations such as class and gender. It also opens up a new approach to the ways in which language is used in the domain of politics. For politics is, among other things, the site par excellence in which words are deeds and the symbolic character of power is at stake.

This volume, by one of the leading social thinkers in the world today, represents a major contribution to the study of language and power. It will be of interest to students throughout the social sciences and humanities, especially in sociology, politics, anthropology, linguistics and literature.

Dettagli dell?edizione

• Editore: Polity Pr
• Data di pubblicazione: 1992
• ISBN 10: 074561034X
• ISBN 13: 9780745610344
• Rilegatura: Copertina flessibile
• Lingua: Inglese
• Numero di pagine: 312