COGST 3150

Language and Power

Course Description

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2024-2025.

In this course, we will explore how language interacts with power: how does language reflect, shape, threaten and reinforce power relations in human society? From childhood through old age, language is an ever-present source of symbolic power. We use it to develop and express our identities, to position ourselves in hierarchies, and to establish group membership and exclusion throughout life. Language shapes ourselves, our families, our social lives, and our institutions. Understanding how people use language can provide a window into hidden aspects of both individuals and the social world.

• To develop skills for thinking, speaking, and writing critically about social scientific questions.
• To apply these skills in analyzing the papers we discuss in class.
• To understand the role of language in the social world and its power structures.

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