Lecture 3

Wednesday, 20 September 2023 2:37 pm

Gender, power and language

Key concepts on gender and power
- Sexism
- Gender binary
- Feminism:
○ 'a diverse and sometimes conflicting set of theoretical, methodological and political
perspectives that have in common a commitment to understanding and challenging
social inequalities related to gender and sexuality'
○ all sharing the perspective of trying to reveal gender inequality in language and
institutions
- Difference feminism(Bucholtz): taking gender difference as their starting point and focus
on the position of women within structures of gender
▪ How are gender differences reflected and enacted in language use
▪ Sexist language e.g. gold digger, bitch
▪ How do men and women act behaviourally
- Gendered experiences(Bucholtz): broader, consider how gender inequalities are different
because of race and class difference

Key ideas on gender

- Language used to construct social roles as gendered e.g. women as naturally 'biologically'
caring vs man 'biologically' strong
- Language to emphasise women's looks vs men's practical abilities
- Gender as performative (Butler): we perform or enact our gender roles and expectations
- Link it to class differences and race
What kinds of gendered power relations
She is not allowed to reserve the council room with husband or father's signature
Sexual harassment
Calendar of menstrual cycle->irrational

Race, power and language

Key ideas on race:
- Othering: differentiation between 'us' vs 'them'-> through pronouns and alienating word
choices
- White supremacy: whiteness as privileged and the oppression of other races
- Colourism
- Subtle and implicit racism-> the need to be politically correct

Race definition:
1. Essentialist view: Everyday commonsense way of thinking… differences in physical
appearance
2. An analytical frame in which race is about power inequality-> race is an identity that is
performed in interaction
○ Identity: a fixed and internal construct or feature of ourselves
Performative racial identity

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 ○ Performative racial identity
a. How do we enact different parts of our identity
b. How do we negotiate our identities depending on the context
c. How do we describe our own identity and those of others
- Alt way: Stereotypical ways of 'acting' a race

Advertisements, power and language

Advertising as an institution to promote and sell things
Different types of ad and their functions
- Product ads vs non-product ads (promote company)
- Hard sell vs soft sell (subtle implicit messages)
- Reason (rational) ads vs (emotional) tickle ads (why you should get it vs gives you warm
and emotional message and encourage you to get it)
○ Rational persuasion: a rational appeal is driven by information processing by the
conscious mind
○ Emotional persuasion: emotion appeal is propelled by the unconscious mind or gut-
feeling, which has its own rewards and risks
○ (ads may use both)
Analysis of Ad is multifaceted-> look from diff perspective (image, text, who, function, target
who, how particular things are constructed)

Ads might use multiple methods at the same time e.g. reason plus tickle, not contradictory

Things to contemplate:
Colour and word choice, position of text and images, body language, facial expression,
function of ad, target demographic, use of celebrity

Components of advertisement and function

Headline: draw focus
Body copy: details of product
Signature: logo, name of company
Slogan: catchphrase
Testimonial: Famous, professional, normal people-> quote or story about why they like the
product

Goffman's gender advertisements

Relative size: the size of a person cam reflect the relative power of the person
Feminine touch: Woman's hand shown in a delicate manner, e.g. barely holding things and
caressing things vs men usually doing something practical
Function ranking: what are the roles that men and women are doing and what it tells us
Ritualisation of subordinance: body position of men and women, women always lower and
lying down
Licensed withdrawal: how their gaze are directed

Politics, power and language

- Language describes political issues and shapes how the public views it
- Language used to write laws and govern how we live our lives
Outcomes and purposes of political language
- Coercion
Getting and making people do things

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 ○ Getting and making people do things
○ Language in law that punish people
- Resistance
○ The diff ways that less powerful people use language to 'push back' on those in power
- Legitimation
○ Creating ideas and norms about what is acceptable
○ 'Establishes the right to be obeyed'

Political discourse: any text for political purposes-> to persuade

Linguistic and discursive strategies that politicians use (Simpson and Mayr)
- Presupposition and implication -> so politician don't commit themselves to something
○ Delivering info implicitly and leaving it to the hearer to deduce meaning and make
assumptions
- Metaphor
- Pronoun usage (included vs excluded)
○ The migrant-> them vs the nation -> us
- Euphemistic language-> to make sth seem better (neutral language)
○ A figure of speech which uses mild, inoffensive, or vague words as a means of making
sth seem more positive than it might otherwise appear
○ Alternative facts as euphemism for lying and deceiving the public
○ Protest instead of riot

Donald Trump 'Who's doing the raping'

How does DT construct the matters of crime and immigration
Illegal immigrant compare them to statistics of rape, equivalent
What are the outcomes

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