Critique and Sociolinguistic Analysis of Discourse
Author(s)
Heller, Monica
Abstract
My point of departure for this paper is that ‘critique’ is fundamentally about identifying and explaining the construction of relations of social difference and inequality (and then deciding what position to take about such processes, and what, if any, action that might lead to). I focus on one particular theoretical and methodological dimension of this project; namely the linkage between local linguistic practices and processes of social structuration (Giddens,1984). This discussion is based on sociolinguistic ethnographic materials exploring how some very local processes (debates over organizational structure and vision in one small community association in Ontario, Canada) are linked to broader concerns about social difference and inequality.
