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The Politics of Language
A provocative case for the inherently political nature of language
In The Politics of Language, David Beaver and Jason Stanley present a radical new approach to the theory of meaning, offering an account of communication in which political and social identity, affect, and shared practices play as important a role as information. This new view of language, they argue, has dramatic consequences for free speech, democracy, and a range of other areas in which speech plays a central role.
Drawing on a wealth of disciplines, The Politics of Language argues that the function of speech--whether in dialogue, larger group interactions, or mass communication--is to attune people to something, be it a shared reality, emotion, or identity. Reconceptualizing the central concepts of pragmatics and semantics, Beaver and Stanley apply their account to a range of phenomena that defy standard frameworks in linguistics and philosophy of language--from dog whistles and covert persuasion to echo chambers and genocidal speech. The authors use their framework to show that speech is inevitably political because all communication is imbued with the resonances of particular ideologies and their normative perspectives on reality.
At a time when democracy is under attack, authoritarianism is on the rise, and diversity and equality are being demanded, The Politics of Language offers a powerful new vision of the language of politics, ideology, and protest.
In The Politics of Language, David Beaver and Jason Stanley present a radical new approach to the theory of meaning, offering an account of communication in which political and social identity, affect, and shared practices play as important a role as information. This new view of language, they argue, has dramatic consequences for free speech, democracy, and a range of other areas in which speech plays a central role.
Drawing on a wealth of disciplines, The Politics of Language argues that the function of speech--whether in dialogue, larger group interactions, or mass communication--is to attune people to something, be it a shared reality, emotion, or identity. Reconceptualizing the central concepts of pragmatics and semantics, Beaver and Stanley apply their account to a range of phenomena that defy standard frameworks in linguistics and philosophy of language--from dog whistles and covert persuasion to echo chambers and genocidal speech. The authors use their framework to show that speech is inevitably political because all communication is imbued with the resonances of particular ideologies and their normative perspectives on reality.
At a time when democracy is under attack, authoritarianism is on the rise, and diversity and equality are being demanded, The Politics of Language offers a powerful new vision of the language of politics, ideology, and protest.
520 pages, Hardcover
Published November 7, 2023
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228 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 21, 2025
Challenging -- in several respects
This is a scholarly work. Its extended and, at times, complex arguments are likely to exhaust the patience of many general readers.
If, however, you are willing to invest the necessary effort to carefully study and think about the material, you will learn a lot of uncomfortable things about yourself. We are not the autonomous agents we fancy ourselves to be. We are more attuned to hate speech and more easily attracted to echo chambers than we normally care to admit. Discursive practices in the contemporary world are not at all favorable to democracy or to freedom.
Beaver and Stanley propose an expansive understanding of non-technical speech. Its primary function is not the exchange of information but rather to facilitate identity formation that is in sync with the norms and expectations of those with whom one normally associates. This process is generally non-deliberative. By shining a light on this synchronizing process, the authors are inviting readers to give more thought to how and why they use and react to specific language practices.
This is a scholarly work. Its extended and, at times, complex arguments are likely to exhaust the patience of many general readers.
If, however, you are willing to invest the necessary effort to carefully study and think about the material, you will learn a lot of uncomfortable things about yourself. We are not the autonomous agents we fancy ourselves to be. We are more attuned to hate speech and more easily attracted to echo chambers than we normally care to admit. Discursive practices in the contemporary world are not at all favorable to democracy or to freedom.
Beaver and Stanley propose an expansive understanding of non-technical speech. Its primary function is not the exchange of information but rather to facilitate identity formation that is in sync with the norms and expectations of those with whom one normally associates. This process is generally non-deliberative. By shining a light on this synchronizing process, the authors are inviting readers to give more thought to how and why they use and react to specific language practices.
March 2, 2025
This may be a good read if one enjoys academic language, but definitely not for anyone else.
April 2, 2025
I had mixed feelings towards this book. For starters, I assume that it is targeted to people who want to get familiarised with the topic... Nonetheless, that is also my main concern. The authors set up a theory that, being all philosophically imaginative and wit, is psychologically inert. C'mon! Most of PoL seems like a rebranding of already well-established theories in Social Psychology -including Group Psychology, Persuasion Psychology, etc-. Don't get me wrong -- I have no problem with re-thinking or borrowing frameworks from other disciplines; however, I feel that it is being assigned another name or presented as a genuinely new theoretical framework for contributions that are already somewhat like the missal of Social Psychology (or, at times, some ideas that were once very vibrant but are now relatively outdated). They propose and address "new" problems that arise only when theories in psychology are examined superficially. This could have been a valuable rehearsal of these theories in connection to their philosophical takes! Sadly, I believe that this idea was not executed correctly.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews