“What Is Royalty Without a Voice?” The Performance of Power in The King’s Speech

Pólemos ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mara Logaldo
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Complex Dynamics ◽  
Expert Power ◽  
Social Scale ◽  
Legitimate Power ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Status ◽  
The One ◽  
Received Pronunciation

AbstractThe core subject of The King’s Speech (Tom Hooper, 2010) is the relation between voice and power. In the first place, we have the speech impediment of the Duke of York (the future George VI) and his subsequent inability to deliver effectual messages to the nation in a particularly dramatic phase in history. This failure highlights, by contrast, the identification of monarchy with voice. The film actually shows how the performative power of speech became crucial after the invention of the wireless. The BBC, as George V stated on his death bed, had turned kings into actors: elocution could either make or unmake them. Yet, these are only some facets of the complex dynamics by which language and power are interrelated in the film. Another important issue is the form of verbal exchange between doctor and patient, which enacts a wavering between two kinds of authority, the one possessed by right (legitimate power) and the one acquired by study and experience (expert power). Emphasis is also placed on standard English as the language traditionally associated with higher education, political supremacy and prestige. The importance given to Received Pronunciation and the contempt shown towards other language variants proves how deeply embedded in language power is. Though amiably, even the ironic remarks on conversational rules made by Elizabeth, the future Queen Mother, finally confirm the status quo, putting things and people back into place on the social scale. This is also, ultimately, the policy of the BBC, the institution that has been invested with the task of preserving, at the same time, British national identity and the purity of the English language.

The Futurists. Experts in World Futures

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenny Andersson
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
The Other ◽  
Futures Studies ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Status ◽  
The One ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Images Of The Future ◽  
The Way

Alvin Toffler’s writings encapsulated many of the tensions of futurism: the way that futurology and futures studies oscillated between forms of utopianism and technocracy with global ambitions, and between new forms of activism, on the one hand, and emerging forms of consultancy and paid advice on the other. Paradoxically, in their desire to create new images of the future capable of providing exits from the status quo of the Cold War world, futurists reinvented the technologies of prediction that they had initially rejected, and put them at the basis of a new activity of futures advice. Consultancy was central to the field of futures studies from its inception. For futurists, consultancy was a form of militancy—a potentially world altering expertise that could bypass politics and also escaped the boring halls of academia.

El Protagonismo Dialéctico-Social del Ser Humano en el Desarrollo Intelectual de Rodolfo Mondolfo

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (13) ◽  
pp. 125-144
Author(s):  
Jesús Víctor Alfredo Contreras Ugarte
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Role ◽  
Academic Work ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Future ◽  
The One ◽  
Descriptive Method

Summary: Reflecting on the role humans take into nowadays society, should be of interest in all our social reflections, even for those that refer to the field of law. Any human indifferent and unconscious of the social role that he ought to play within society, as a member of it, is an irresponsible human detached from everything that surrounds him, regarding matters and other humans. Trying to isolate in an irresponsible, passive and comfortable attitude, means, after all, denying oneself, denying our nature, as the social being every human is. This is the reflection that this academic work entitles, the one made from the point of view of the Italian philosopher Rodolfo Mondolfo. From a descriptive development, starting from this renowned author, I will develop ideas that will warn the importance that human protagonism have, in this human product so call society. From a descriptive development, from this well-known author, I will be prescribing ideas that will warn the importance of the protagonism that all human beings have, in that human product that we call society. I have used the descriptive method to approach the positions of the Italian humanist philosopher and, for my assessments, I have used the prescriptive method from an eminently critical and deductive procedural position. My goal is to demonstrate, from the humanist postulates of Rodolfo Mondolfo, the hypothesis about the leading, decision-making and determining role that the human being has within society. I understand, to have reached the demonstration of the aforementioned hypothesis, because, after the analyzed, there is no doubt, that the human being is not one more existence in the development of societies; its role is decisive in determining the human present and the future that will house the next societies and generations of our historical future.

scholarly journals Status Loss: The Burden of Positively Selected Immigrants

2019 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 471-495 ◽  
Author(s):  
Per Engzell ◽  
Mathieu Ichou
Keyword(s):  
European Social Survey ◽  
Social Position ◽  
The Other ◽  
Social Survey ◽  
Financial Situation ◽  
Individual Outcomes ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Status ◽  
Country Differences ◽  
The One

Immigrants experience an ambiguous social position: on the one hand, they tend to be positively selected on resources from the origin country; on the other, they often occupy the lower rungs of the status ladder in receiving countries. This study explores the implications of this ambiguity for two important individual outcomes: subjective social status and perceived financial situation. We study the diverse sample of immigrants in the European Social Survey and use the fact that, due to country differences in educational distributions, a given education level can entail a very different rank in the sending and receiving countries. We document a robust relationship whereby immigrants who ranked higher in the origin than in the destination country see themselves as being comparatively worse off. This finding suggests that the social position before migration provides an important reference point by which immigrants judge their success in the new country.

Linguistic interplay between Yoruba and English

English Today ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 51-53
Author(s):  
Grace Ebunlola Adamo
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
Important Data ◽  
Long Run ◽  
The Social ◽  
British Colonization ◽  
The Future ◽  
Yoruba Language ◽  
Local Languages

The purpose of this paper is to foreground the extent to which the English language has eroded the originality and purity of the Yoruba language. The main focus will be on code-switching practices, which I believe to be detrimental to Yoruba in the long run. Although linguists have long proposed a ‘leave-your-language-alone’ attitude (see Hall, 1950), there is little doubt that the effects of first British colonization and then globalization have changed the linguistic ecology of Africa. Few sociolinguists would deny that a people's language is a symbol of their identity and culture. In an important textbook in the field, Holmes (1992: 70) confirms that ‘Language is an important component of identity and culture for many groups, maintaining their distinct identity and culture is usually important to … self esteem.’ What are we then to make of the extensive code-switching that I will be documenting in this article? Linguists' tolerance has certainly extended to code-switching studies in Africa, from which much important data has been drawn. The main scholar in this area is Carol Myers-Scotton, whose two books on code-switching (1993a,b) were based primarily on her research in Africa and remain central to the field internationally. Scholars like Coupland and Jaworski (1997) propose that the use of mixed speech in a conversation is not necessarily a language defect but a sign of flexibility and creativity. Understanding the social, psycholinguistic and syntactic motivations for switching is one thing, but the applied linguist and educationist also has to ask serious questions about what this means for the future of local languages heavily implicated in code-switching.

scholarly journals Times of Continuity and Development. Visions of the Future among Agro-Pastoral Children and Young People in Southern Ethiopia

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabrina Maurus
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
National Development ◽  
Southern Ethiopia ◽  
Children And Young People ◽  
Rural And Urban Areas ◽  
Rural And Urban ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Future ◽  
The One

This article explores how children and young people from agro-pastoral societies in southern Ethiopia imagine their future. Children and young people who have not been going to school, as well as students in rural and urban areas, imagine their future differently. Their visions of the future can be located on a continuum between a future life as agro-pastoralists on the one end, and life in town with a job as an employee on the other. Where a person’s vision is located on this continuum depends on the influences he or she has experienced from school and town life. My analysis shows how, through the influence of schooling, young people’s concept of time shifts from a cyclical one, concentrated on the reproduction of the social world, towards a linear one, focused on personal and “national” development.

scholarly journals POWER THROUGH LINGUISTIC MODALITIES IN INDONESIAN PRESIDENTIAL SPEECHES

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-28
Author(s):  
Rosyida Ekawati
Keyword(s):  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Social Background ◽  
Linguistic Features ◽  
Three Dimensional Model ◽  
Modal Verbs ◽  
Expert Power ◽  
Legitimate Power ◽  
The Social

Language plays a crucial role in political speech. The use of a particular language canreflect or be influenced by the speaker’s ideology, power, cultural/social background, region, or social status. This paper is concerned with the relationship between language and power, specifically as manifested in the language used by an Indonesian president in international forums. It aims to uncover the power relations that were projected through the linguistic features of the president’s speech texts, particularly the use of modal verbs. Data for this paper are the speeches on the topics of peace and climate change delivered by Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) in international forums during his first and second presidential terms. This paper’s analysis of linguistic modalities uses Fairclough’s three-dimensional model of critical discourse analysis (CDA) to answer its research questions. The results show that, in projecting his power, SBY used several linguistic modal verbs. From the context of the modality used it can be understood that the president conveyed his strategic desire to be himself as he tried to relate to the audience (as he assumed it to be) and construct an image of himself, of his audience, and of their relationship. The president produced discourse that embodied assumptions about the social relations between his leadership and the audience and asserted both his legitimate power as president and his expert power. Through the language used, SBY created, sustained, and replicated the fundamental inequalities and asymmetries in the forums he attended.

“Subjunctive design” as a means of developing professional and civic identity among young peopl

2021 ◽  
pp. 32-52
Author(s):  
Ю.Ю. Александрова ◽  
И.В. Кохова ◽  
Н.С. Пряжников ◽  
Е.Ю. Пряжникова
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
Design Method ◽  
Civic Identity ◽  
The Other ◽  
Professional Orientation ◽  
The Social ◽  
Its Regions ◽  
The Status ◽  
Psychological Educational ◽  
The One

В статье обосновывается статус «сослагательного проектирования» как перспективного метода психолого-педагогической и профориентационной работы со школьниками и студентами, в основе которого — стремление рассмотреть возможные варианты развития страны, ее регионов и городов, а также конкретных профессий, с учетом готовности молодежи реализовать себя в этих профессиях на благо общества и в соответствии со своими собственными интересами. Кроме того, анализируются проблемы и риски, возможные в процессе практического использования метода «сослагательного проектирования», в частности риски персонификации и чрезмерного «раздувания» реально существующих в обществе и экономике проблем, что провоцирует нежелательную критику власти и даже экстремистские настроения. В качестве противодействия этим рискам предлагается направлять творческую энергию школьников и студентов в конструктивное русло, нацеливая их на поиск путей делового сотрудничества с теми, кто реально обладает властью и другими возможностями, но пока недостаточно использует их для развития страны. При этом эмоциональная включенность участников в обсуждение перспектив развития страны должна рассматриваться как показатель сопричастности, неравнодушия к процессам трансформации России, что соотносимо и с профессиональной, и с гражданской идентичностью. В статье также приводятся примеры использования конкретных профориентационных методик в контексте общего метода «сослагательного проектирования». Опыт использования таких методик показывает, что, с одной стороны, школьники и студенты готовы с интересом обсуждать перспективы развития страны, ее отраслей экономики, конкретных профессий и собственной жизни, но с другой — далеко не все из них делают это осознанно, а большинство вообще не утруждает себя размышлениями о возможных изменениях в технологиях и социальной жизни общества, ориентируясь лишь на реалии сегодняшнего дня. The article substantiates the status of “subjunctive design” as a promising method of psychological- educational, and professional orientation work with schoolboys and students, based on the idea of considering possible options for the development of the country, its regions and cities, as well as — specific professions and their willingness to realize themselves in these professions for the benefit of society and by their interests. Risks and possible problems in the development and practical use of the ”subjunctive design” method are analyzed, in particular the risks of excessive fantasization and personification of real problems in society and economy, which could provoke undesirable criticism of the authorities and even extremist sentiments, including the search for ways of business cooperation with those who have power and other opportunities, but so far, do not use them enough for the development of the country. On the one hand, that schoolchildren and students are ready to discuss with interest the prospects of the country’s development, its branches of the economy, specific professions and their prospects. However, on the other hand, not all of them are ready to do it reasonably, and most of them are not ready to think about possible changes in technology and the social life of society, focusing only on the realities of today.

Translanguaging: the concept origin and meaning

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 147-155
Author(s):  
Aliya Iskakova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Foreign Languages ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Pedagogical Tool ◽  
The Status ◽  
The One ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Linguistic Approach

The status of English language as a lingua franca and the steady expansion of its influence in many areas of human activity cause an ambiguous reaction in the modern world and is accompanied by the emergence of relevant trends in linguistic science and real practice of foreign languages training. In the world linguodidactics, there is a constant search for effective ways of teaching foreign languages, which is inevitably accompanied by a search for solutions to acute problems associated with the English language diversification from the one hand and the preservation of linguistic diversity and cultural identity from the other hand. Analysing the scholars and educators works the author traces the emergence and meaning of the concepts of “translingualism” as a linguistic approach and “translanguaging” as a didactic method. The paper is of great interest from the point of view of acquiring new knowledge and expanding the existing linguodidactic experience. In foreign linguistics, there is a lively discussion about the essence of this phenomenon, which arose as a pedagogical tool in the UK and later took shape in the pedagogical system by the efforts of many scientists and received full theoretical justification in the works written by American scientist Ophelia Garcia and British linguist Lee Wei. Translingualism is considered not only as a powerful pedagogical tool of foreign language training, one the ways to diversify and develop English language, but also as a way to solve accumulated problems in the social sphere, including those the speakers from different linguistic cultures have while communicating.

Humor theory and the fear of being laughed at

2009 ◽  
Vol 22 (1-2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christie Davies
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Research ◽  
Empirical Data ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
The Other ◽  
Social Variables ◽  
Humor Theory ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Future ◽  
The One ◽  
High Level

AbstractSystematic empirical research into the extent to which individuals in different societies fear being laughed at is new and has implications for humor theory. Humor theorists such as Hobbes and Bergson implicitly assume that such fears were generally at a high level and both Hobbes' superiority theory of laughter and Bergson's view of it as a social corrective depend on this assumption. They purport to be general theories but are in fact the product of the particular societies in which those philosophers' lived and whose mores they took for granted. However, we can use their work to generate hypotheses that can in the future be tested against the comparative empirical data now being produced. In particular we should pay attention is the social variables of shame, face, etiquette and embarrassment on the one hand, and hierarchy, status divisions and power on the other, as probably having explanatory power.

WOMEN‘S STUDIES IN SOCIOLOGY: A PERFUMED GHETTO?

1981 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 4-8
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Women's Studies ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Women’S Studies ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Status ◽  
The One ◽  
The Impact

One of the fields of sociology which is experiencing a dramatic explosion is that catch‐all area of Women's Studies. Books and articles touching on women's experiences in the labour market or in the home, the education of girls or images of femininity, the impact of the law on women or sexism in the social sciences have been proliferating in the last decade. Much of the impetus has been provided by the renascent Women's Movement, and the various academic concerns echo the diverse attacks on the status quo being made by politically active women. The one thing which holds all this material together is an explicit concern to bring women to the centre of the stage in the social sciences, instead of leaving them (as they so often have been) in the wings or with mere walk‐on parts. Taking the woman's point of view is seen as a legitimate corrective to the tendency to ignore women altogether. But is this sufficient to constitute the nucleus of a new speciality within sociology, which is what seems to be happening to ‘Women's Studies’ and ‘feminist’ social science? More seriously, should sociological discussions of women be ghettoised into special courses on women in society? As a preliminary attempt to redress the balance maybe such separate development can be justified, but if that is all that happens, the enriching potential of feminist social science may well be lost to mainstream sociology. It is not just that feminist social scientists want women to be brought in to complete the picture. It is not just that they claim that half the picture is being left unexposed. The claims are often much more ambitious than that: what much feminist writing is attempting is a demonstration of the distortion in the half image which is exposed. An injection of feminist thinking into practically any sociological speciality could lead to a profound re‐orientation of that field. More than this, a feminist approach can indicate the ways in which traditional boundaries between sociological specialities can obscure women and their special position in society. Feminist social scientists throw down the gauntlet on the way in which the field of sociology has traditionally been carved up. But if women's studies are kept in their ghetto, this challenge will be lost: to me, the explicitly critical stance which feminist research takes with respect to mainstream sociology is one of its most exciting qualities, and such research has important insights to contribute to the development of the discipline.

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