Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-06T14:30:08.612Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

6 - Situating Ideological Work

from Part III - Sites

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 June 2019

Susan Gal
Affiliation:
University of Chicago
Judith T. Irvine
Affiliation:
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Get access

Summary

Where do we find evidence of ideology? This chapter defines a “site” of ideological work as a focus of joint attention for making construals. This presumes a plurality of actor viewpoints and gazes, uptakes that notice an object of attention and construe it via contrastive sign-relations. A site of ideological work is not inherently bounded. The gaze identifies a central focus; boundary-making is a separate activity. Research questions are implied: Who picks out a phenomenon for scrutiny? How does the gaze produce and represent it, through what semiotic properties and contrasts? Who participates? Who and what are excluded? Do participants’ semiotic moves differ from the researcher’s meta-move? The example of a site with no text or talk – glass panes on doors at a university – shows how even a simple case reveals multiple gazes as participants reacted variously to the panes and projected different communicative ideologies onto the reactions of others. Sites inevitably open up other sites and construals. It shows that distinguishing between implicit and explicit ideologies conflates several issues: conscious awareness, willingness to speak, contestation, and relative dominance.

Type
Chapter
Information
Signs of Difference
Language and Ideology in Social Life
, pp. 167 - 189
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×