Language & Power

Language in Social Life is a major series which highlights the importance of language to an understanding of issues of social and professional concern.  It will be of practical relevance to all those wanting to understand how the ways we communicate both influence and are influenced by the structures and forces of contemporary social institutions.  Praise for the first edition of Language and Power: "...an excellent introductory manual"THES "...thought provoking and suggestive"SECOL (Southeastern Conference on Linguistics) Review  Language and Power was first published in 1989 and quickly established itself as a ground-breaking book. Its popularity continues as an accessible introductory text to the field of Discourse Analysis, focusing on:  

• how language functions in maintaining and changing power relations in modern society
• the ways of analysing language which can reveal these processes
• how people can become more conscious of them, and more able to resist and change them.

The question of language and power is still important and urgent in the twenty-first century, but there have been substantial changes in social life during the past decade which have somewhat changed the nature of unequal power relations, and therefore the agenda for the critical study of language. In this new edition, Norman Fairclough brings the discussion fully up-to-date and covers the issue of 'globalisation' of power relations and the development of the internet in relation to Language and Power.  The bibliography has also been fully updated to include important new reference material.Norman Fairclough is Professor of Language in Social Life in the Department of Linguistics, Lancaster University. 

Substantial changes in social life have taken place during the past decade which have changed the nature of unequal power relations, and therefore the agenda for the critical study of language. In this second edition, Norman Fairclough brings the discussion completely up-to-date with the inclusion of a new chapter covering the 'globalisation' of power relations and the development of the internet in relation to language and power.

1. Introduction: critical language study. 2. Discourse as social practice. 3. Discourse and power. 4. Discourse, common sense and ideology. 5. Critical discourse analysis in practice: description. 6. Critical discourse analysis in practice: interpretation, explanation, and the position of the analyst. 7. Creativity and struggle in discourse: the discourse of Thatcherism. 8. Discourse in social change. 9. Critical language study and social emancipation: language education in the schools. 10. Language and power 2000. Bibliography. Index.