Culture, Discourse, and the Workplace

Culture, Discourse, and the Workplace brings new theoretical and methodological insights to the complex relationship between language, culture, and identity in professional settings. Examining the politics of language use at work via a critical sociolinguistic approach, this book:

• Utilises three case studies from institutional and business contexts to provide unique illustrations of participants’ roles and ways of negotiating membership within the business meeting;
• Investigates essentialist meanings of culture and the ways in which they constitute a powerful resource for employees to perpetuate or challenge the status quo in their professional setting;
• Approaches the organisation as a discursive construct and looks into the negotiation of orgnisational practice in daily routines at work;
• Includes a core section on methodology for the workplace discourse researcher as well as a section dedicated to FAQs and a worked example on data analysis;
• Offers future directions for workplace sociolinguistics as a field and makes a case for holistic research and multidisciplinary enquiry.

Culture, Discourse, and the Workplace constitutes a key resource for students and teachers of workplace discourse, sociopragmatics, intercultural communication, ESP and business studies. It will also be of significant interest to anybody working in the area of workplace interaction and interactional linguistics.