how is language used to assert power and authority? - Printable Version +- Twitist Forums (http://twitist.com) +-- Forum: General Social Media & Marketing Forums (/forum-8.html) +--- Forum: Social Marketing (/forum-10.html) +--- Thread: how is language used to assert power and authority? (/thread-117687.html)

how is language used to assert power and authority? - Laura - 03-24-2014 11:34 AM I have to write a 150 words on how language is used to assert power and authority in households but I'm not sure. Please help me. Thankyou - Indiana Frenchman - 03-24-2014 11:40 AM the web page (below) provides: The Power of Language A philosophical-sociological reflection Prof. Dr. Johannes Weiß & Dr. Thomas Schwietring Social Sciences, University of Kassel 1. Introduction As always, when “power” is spoken of, the first association is that of the power of man over man, of power as suppression of the free will by “commands” and “obedience”. Power can easily appear in this connection as the root of all evil in human societies and as the opposite of freedom as such. Yet the problem of power is in truth more complex. And especially in the case of the “power of language”, the problem is multi-layered. The “power of language” not only means language in the service of power; language can also undermine power. And above all, as language, it possesses itself power of a very special kind. The relation of language and power is ambivalent. We have spoken in the first place of the “power of language” as the “language of power”. What is here meant in general is that all power must finally use language, be conveyed through it and manifested in it, to command, that is, to speak, where others must only hear and obey. In a more narrow sense, this understanding of the “power of language” is a matter of the instrumentalisation of language for the purpose of exercising power. The command of language itself becomes a means of power: as political rhetoric and demagogy, as ideology and bedazzlement, as seduction through words, as “persuasion”. This power of language extends from large political contexts, from the manner of speaking and thus also of thinking that dictatorships and totalitarian orders force upon dominated people, to the small scenes of everyday life, to the arts of seduction of advertising, the sales tricks of telephone marketing, or the menacing undertones at the workplace or in the family.p This first interpretation of the “power of language” already shows two things. On the one hand, that language and speaking must be distinguished in the exercise of power. The possibilities of language from the way in which language is actually used in spoken words. On the other hand, the interpretation also gives a presentiment that the power which is exercised through language always already bears within itself the germ of its counter-power. For the language of political demagogues and tyrants can be seen through as language. And by means of language itself. So that language conveys the power of violence or domination and at the same time undermines it. For everyone can take possession of the power of language and in this way see through and unmask the power exercised through language. Seen clearly, the “power of language” is thus not the fraternisation of language with command and obedience; this uses language for goals other than those which are inherent in it. The genuine, inner power of language is rather to undermine this other kind of power. Since ursurpatious and violent rule as well as legitimate rule must ultimately rely on the power of language in order to be exercised, to command and to assert itself, precisely language is the vulnerable spot of the commanding power. For the concealed intentions of a command can be seen through. The command can be obeyed, but it can also be refused; above all, it can be understood and so interpreted or re-interpreted quite as those might like who are supposed to obey it, but who for their part possess the infinitely divisible and epidemically disseminating power of language. This mechanism can be generalised beyond the political sphere. Without a doubt, the power of language consists in the fact that it can be used for rhetorical persuasion. But its own authentic power consists at least equally in the fact that every “putting into language” already harbours within itself the kernel of doubt. Every attempt to persuade others with and through language is always also an effort to make oneself understood. And regardless of how rhetorically skilled the speaker may be, in the end he inevitably places his words, as language, under discussion. Whoever speaks, depends on language. And even the most skilful speaker cannot monopolise the power of language. For ultimately the “power of language” lies not with the speaker, but with language itself. The power of language belongs to language itself. And so this power belongs to everyone who possesses language. Whoever has a command of language has part in its power! Language is not merely a instrument in the hands of power, but also always a counter-power which cannot be restricted and repressed. Power can rest on many factors; for instance, on the possession of weapons or money. These are in short supply; some possess them and others do not. This scarcity establishes the power of man over man. And it shows the ubiquitous social connection of power and inequality. This connection, however, does not obtain for the power of language. As with knowledge generally, so with language and the power that proceeds from it: it is illimitably divisible and multiple. Whoever shares knowledge loses nothing of his own share or possession. Everyone can gain knowledge without taking it away from anyone else. Similarly, everyone can attain the power of language without disputing anyone else’s right to it. At exactly this point begins the empowerment through language that marks the work of the Goethe Institute. It is an empowerment through the genuine power of language, not through a specific content or body of knowledge which is conveyed through language. And it is within this frame that the decentralised, world-wide projects of the Goethe Institute are to be understood. see web page for following (too much to copy/paste): 2. Dimensions of the power of language 2.1 2.2 2.3 3. Applications 3.1 Language, Multilinguism and identity 3.2 European identity, cultural variety and the future of the major European languages