Publisher's Synopsis
Language is both a system of communication between individuals and a social phenomenon. Language connects people to each other in social relationships and allows them to participate in a variety of activities in everyday life. Communication ultimately always involves individuals sharing or coproducing information. This is true also when individuals represent large social institutions e.g. nation states or industrial enterprises or when individuals are part of a large audience for mass media. A direct consequence of the combination of language and social relations is that social activity, as far as its communicatively dependent aspects, e.g. coordination and cohesion are concerned, is viewed as anchored in and dependent on individuals. Communication helps constitute social structure by aligning properties of the individuals. Communication is anchored in individuals. More specifically, it is primarily dependent on cognitive, emotive and conative states and processes in individuals and it is by influencing such states and processes that interpersonal relations are constituted. Communication, thus, does not merely affect psychological and social states and relations built on factual information but just as much concerns emotions, volition, action and behavior. When we look more closely at how communication provides "social glue", we see that this is done by being one of the means whereby relations are constituted internally, between persons engaged in an activity as well as externally, between persons external to the activity and people within the activity. Such internal and external relations are present in and partly constituted by phenomena such as management, control, decision making, negotiation, evaluation, giving information, service and small talk. The same reasoning would apply if we, instead of talking about the relations relevant to the people engaged in an activity, talked about the internal and external relations of a social group. Both activities and social groups are social reifications which, to the extent that they exist, have both their internal and external relations partly constituted by communication. Language and Social Relations, a compendium of research articles, explores the role of language in various domains of our social life, including identity, gender, class, kinship, deference, status, hierarchy, and others. This book shows that language is not simply a tool of social conduct but the effective means by which human beings formulate models of conduct. Language is both a system of communication between individuals and a social phenomenon. Language connects people to each other in social relationships and allows them to participate in a variety of activities in everyday life. Communication ultimately always involves individuals sharing or coproducing information. This is true also when individuals represent large social institutions e.g. nation states or industrial enterprises or when individuals are part of a large audience for mass media. A direct consequence of the combination of language and social relations is that social activity, as far as its communicatively dependent aspects, e.g. coordination and cohesion are concerned, is viewed as anchored in and dependent on individuals. Communication helps constitute social structure by aligning properties of the individuals. Communication is anchored in individuals. More specifically, it is primarily dependent on cognitive, emotive and conative states and processes in individuals and it is by influencing such states and processes that interpersonal relations are constituted. Communication, thus, does not merely affect psychological and social states and relations built on factual information but just as much concerns emotions, volition, action and behavior. When we look more closely at how communication provides "social glue", we see that this is done by being one of the means whereby relations are constituted internally, between persons engaged in an activity as well as externally, between persons external to the activity and people within the activity. Such internal and external relations are present in and partly constituted by phenomena such as management, control, decision making, negotiation, evaluation, giving information, service and small talk. The same reasoning would apply if we, instead of talking about the relations relevant to the people engaged in an activity, talked about the internal and external relations of a social group. Both activities and social groups are social reifications which, to the extent that they exist, have both their internal and external relations partly constituted by communication. Language and Social Relations, a compendium of research articles, explores the role of language in various domains of our social life, including identity, gender, class, kinship, deference, status, hierarchy, and others. This book shows that language is not simply a tool of social conduct but the effective means by which human beings formulate models of conduct. Language is both a system of communication between individuals and a social phenomenon. Language connects people to each other in social relationships and allows them to participate in a variety of activities in everyday life. Communication ultimately always involves individuals sharing or coproducing information. This is true also when individuals represent large social institutions e.g. nation states or industrial enterprises or when individuals are part of a large audience for mass media. A direct consequence of the combination of language and social relations is that social activity, as far as its communicatively dependent aspects, e.g. coordination and cohesion are concerned, is viewed as anchored in and dependent on individuals. Communication helps constitute social structure by aligning properties of the individuals. Communication is anchored in individuals. More specifically, it is primarily dependent on cognitive, emotive and conative states and processes in individuals and it is by influencing such states and processes that interpersonal relations are constituted. Communication, thus, does not merely affect psychological and social states and relations built on factual information but just as much concerns emotions, volition, action and behavior. When we look more closely at how communication provides "social glue", we see that this is done by being one of the means whereby relations are constituted internally, between persons engaged in an activity as well as externally, between persons external to the activity and people within the activity. Such internal and external relations are present in and partly constituted by phenomena such as management, control, decision making, negotiation, evaluation, giving information, service and small talk. The same reasoning would apply if we, instead of talking about the relations relevant to the people engaged in an activity, talked about the internal and external relations of a social group. Both activities and social groups are social reifications which, to the extent that they exist, have both their internal and external relations partly constituted by communication. Language and Social Relations, a compendium of research articles, explores the role of language in various domains of our social life, including identity, gender, class, kinship, deference, status, hierarchy, and others. This book shows that language is not simply a tool of social conduct but the effective means by which human beings formulate models of conduct.
