Multilingualism, the new economy and the neoliberal governance of speakers

This chapter discusses how sociolinguistic research has been influenced by the extension of capitalist processes and neoliberal forms of government. Firstly, it examines how languages and multilingualism have been studied in relation to the social transformation produced within new economies, and di...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Martín Rojo, Luisa
Tipo de recurso: capítulo de libro
Fecha de publicación:2023
País:España
Institución:Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Repositorio:Biblos-e Archivo. Repositorio Institucional de la UAM
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:repositorio.uam.es:10486/713417
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10486/713417
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Multilingualism
Neoliberal governance
Speakers
Sociolinguistic research
New economies
Social transformation
Filología
Descripción
Sumario:This chapter discusses how sociolinguistic research has been influenced by the extension of capitalist processes and neoliberal forms of government. Firstly, it examines how languages and multilingualism have been studied in relation to the social transformation produced within new economies, and discusses the new concepts that have been developed for this purpose, such as, the linguistic market, value, and language commodification. Secondly, it explores how languages have also come to play a key role in neoliberal forms of governance of our societies, that extend the logic of the market throughout public and private life and have an impact on linguistic practices. The conceptualisation of language as a personal asset contributes to the creation of self-entrepreneurial speakers, who learn languages to compete more strongly in the job market, and also demands the development of new approaches and methodological tools within sociolinguistic research. Finally, the paper discusses how within this frame of capitalist economy and neoliberal governmentality, multilingualism is in fact turning into Englishisation, as long as this language has a weight in the market that is recognized and used by the speakers to move in society and in the labour market, once they have internalized they must compete and be profitable