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.

List of Figures page 

Acknowledgments 

 

Introduction 

Language: A Loaded Weapon? 
I.1 Language as Symbolic Action 
I.2 Definition of Terms 
I.3 The Fundamental Paradox of Symbolic Power 
I.4 Language as Symbolic Power in Applied Linguistics 
I.5 Language as Symbolic Power in Language Education 
I.6 Organization of the Book 
Suggestions for Further Reading 

 

Part I. The power of symbolic representation

 

1 “I Speak, Therefore I Am” 
What’s in a Wall? 
1.1 The Power to Signify and Categorize 
1.2 The Power to Interpret 
1.3 The Power to Manipulate 
1.4 The Power to Construct Meaning 
1.5 “Ein Tisch ist ein Tisch.” Really? 
Suggestions for Further Reading 

 

2 The Power of Symbolic Representation 
“La Raison du Plus Fort. . .” 
2.1 The Reason of the More Powerful 
2.2 From Reference to Representation: Saussure and Beyond 
2.3 The Power of Symbolic Representation 
2.4 Three Ways of Looking at Symbolic Representation 
2.5 The Politics of Representation 
Suggestions for Further Reading 

 

3 Narratives of Power—The Power of Narrative 
“Pfui! Garstiger Struwwelpeter!” 
3.1 A Narrative of Power: Der Struwwelpeter (1845) 
3.2 What Struwwelpeter Is Really About 65
3.3 From The Little Engine That Could (1930) to The Cat in the Hat (1957) 
3.4 Different Tribes, Different Scribes 
3.5 From Moral Prescriptivism to Ethical Perspectivism 
3.6 The Political Power of Narrative 
Suggestions for Further Reading  

 

Part II. The power of symbolic action

 

4 “I Do Things with Words, Therefore I Am”   
“Will Anyone Rid Me of This Meddlesome Priest?” 
4.1 “I Do Things with Words, Therefore I Am” 
4.2 The Performative Structure of Communicative Practice 
4.3 Interaction Rituals and Symbolic Power 
4.4 The Economy of Symbolic Exchanges and the Power of Institutions 
4.5 Communicative Practice as Symbolic Power Struggle 
Suggestions for Further Reading 

 

5 From Symbolic Power to Symbolic Violence 
“I Love You” as Symbolic Violence 
5.1 What Is Symbolic Violence? Bourdieu and Foucault 
5.2 The Paradoxes of Symbolic Violence 
5.3 The Perlocutionary Effect 
5.4 An Example of Individual Violence: The Reciprocity Imperative 
5.5 An Example of Institutional Violence: The Educational System 
5.6 An Example of Communicative Violence: Conversational Inequalities 
Suggestions for Further Reading 

6 When Symbolic Violence Turns into Symbolic Warfare 
“Fire and Fury Like the World Has Never Seen” 
6.1 What Is Symbolic Warfare? 
6.2 Symbolic Warfare and Populism 
6.3 A Case Study of Symbolic Warfare: Donald Trump 
6.4 Trumpian Newspeak   
6.5 Twitter Politics 
6.6 Resisting Symbolic Warfare 
Suggestions for Further Reading 

 

Part III. The power to create symbolic reality

 

7 “I Am Seen and Talked About, Therefore I Am” 
Harambe: The Gorilla, the Martyr, the Meme 
7.1 From Local News to Mediatic Event to Meme 
7.2 From a Modernist to a Late Modernist Reading via Existentialism and Social Constructivism 
7.3 From the Disciplinary Society to the Spectacle Society 
7.4 Harcourt’s Expository Society 
7.5 From Mediality to Documediality 
7.6 Virality, Community, Conviviality 
Suggestions for Further Reading 

 

8 Language as Symbolic Power in the Digital Age 
The Facebook Me 
8.1 Digital Media as Social Symbolic Systems 
8.2 Social Media as Platforms for the Exercise of Symbolic Power 
8.3 Algorithmic Control 
8.4 A Social and Cultural Revolution 
8.5 Post-truth and Other Disinformation in the Information Age 
8.6 Robotics and Symbolic Power: A.I. and Google Translate 
Suggestions for Further Reading 

 

9 Engaging with Symbolic Power—Responding to Symbolic Violence 
How Ser Ciapelletto Became Saint Ciapelletto 
9.1 Time: The Political Promise of the Performative in Butler 
9.2 Space: Strategies and Tactics in de Certeau 
9.3 Time-Space: Dialogism and Addressivity in Bakhtin 
9.4 Causality: “The Reason of Effects” in Bourdieu 
9.5 Post-humanism in Pennycook and Latour 
Suggestions for Further Reading 

 

Conclusion 

Language: The Measure of Our Symbolic Lives 
C.1 Summary of the Argument 
C.2 Implications for Applied Linguistic Research 
C.3 Implications for Communicative Language Teaching 
C.4 Symbolic Power in Educational Practice 
C.5 Back to Ethics and Politics 
C.6 “Language – The Measure of Our Lives”: A Tribute to Toni Morrison 

 

Glossary

Endnotes 

References 

Index