How Is Language Related To Social And Economic Inequality
The rhetoric surrounding the UK's exit from the EU has get increasingly inflammatory. Some feel that Boris Johnson's use of war machine metaphors such as "give up act" to depict a slice of legislation has made debates even more than polarised.
This is important: the linguistic communication used in the House of Commons both reflects – and is liable to exist reflected by – society at big. Recognising the dangers of such inflammatory language, senior figures from the main Westminster parties signed a pledge at the end of September outlining their "responsibility to effort to use moderate linguistic communication" in Commons debates on exiting the Eu. In this instance, the power of linguistic communication and the potential for information technology to shape behaviours has been acknowledged.
We live in a social club in which inequality is entrenched and increasing – in this context, words tin can have real and pernicious effects. This is particularly true of the way we speak near inequality itself. In that location are numerous examples of this, from the ways that students with learning disabilities are sometimes described through shorthand phrases such "low ability" to housing do good claimants being associated with laziness.
Language matters. Linguistic communication cuts beyond industries and sectors, affecting policy, research agendas and society at large. It is besides constantly evolving. Gild is irresolute in multiple ways. Every bit a outcome, attention must be paid to the terms used to identify and describe the inequalities within it, and the effects that linguistic communication choices take on those experiencing the effects of inequality.
The language used to draw various kinds of inequality tin can differ enormously. Consequently, as our new report shows, the linguistic communication used to talk about structural inequalities holds enormous significance for determining what is captured and measured when studying them.
Language equally representation
Linguistic communication reflects and preserves the values and prejudices of society, and is a powerful ways of perpetuating inequalities. Websites, social media channels, and goggle box programmes are littered with examples, such as the pejorative apply of the words "lame" or "gay".
In such cases, the biases are hidden in plain sight. The Equality and Human Rights Commission's language group has argued that "the English language language makes the general assumption that people are white, male person, heterosexual, non-disabled, married and of European extraction". While positive steps have been taken to address explicitly biased language where maleness is the standard ("flesh"), language effectually things such as gendered occupations and societal attitudes remain difficult to claiming and modify. In 2017 Dany Cotton, the caput of the London Fire Brigade, faced significant backlash and online abuse when she called for people to refer to "firefighters" rather than "firemen".
Two years on and the debate looks to exist won within the burn service, but continues in public life: this fourth dimension, in relation to children'southward television shows. Lincolnshire Burn down and Rescue Service rose to attention by dropping the graphic symbol "Fire-eater Sam" as their fire service mascot due to concerns. Meanwhile, the London Fire Service criticised Peppa Pig for using the same sort of gendered language to draw their profession.
This didn't quite become the positive public response the fire service had hoped for. Instead, the tweet launched a divided social media debate. Many responses to this call for more equal language labelled it "political correctness gone mad", with some going so far equally to suggest that only "weakminded" people are "perpetually offended by language". And yet there is no doubtfulness that using linguistic communication that diminishes female contributions to this traditionally male profession perpetuates inequalities that the service itself is trying to address.
Motivating social alter
For social club to tackle inequalities, we must include those that are experiencing inequality. The activist slogan: "Nothing About Us Without The states" is indicative of marginalised groups' feel of being left without a vocalization. For instance, it has been observed that the specialised language of inability studies enquiry can exist inaccessible to disabled people themselves. If those those experiencing the effects of inequality are excluded from argue so language itself risks acting equally a structural disadvantage.
Meanwhile, in that location is much variation in central government departments which utilize multiple terms to describe inequalities – from social mobility, to equality, to injustice. A contempo survey plant that just 55% of people in the Great britain understand what the term "social mobility" means – with 18 to 24-yr-olds the least likely to understand it when compared to older historic period groups. If the public aren't aware of terms used frequently by experts, then how can nosotros finer phone call for change?
It is therefore important that the experiences of a particular group are presented in their own words. Reflecting the linguistic communication used by an private, grouping, or customs is imperative. Consider the terms "BAME" and "BME". While they are widely used to refer to ethnic minorities, very few individuals identify with such acronyms. Many people do not know what they correspond and they imply that non-white people contain a homogeneous group. The language used to describe inequalities must instead originate from those who feel them and be situated in their experiences.
Public conceptions of inequality also vary across the country. People perceive the gap between social classes quite differently depending on where they alive in the UK. Asking an private to define "what does beingness upper-class hateful?" or "what does a privileged background await like to you?" will result in widely varying responses in unlike geographical areas and from dissimilar population groups.
Language is of import in driving change, both through shifting societal attitudes and stimulating political action. Examining the language used to discuss and evidence inequalities, then, calls into question whether it is possible – or indeed helpful – to construct a national narrative on inequalities.
While imposing a rigid dictionary to speak virtually inequalities isn't our goal, the language of inequalities needs to capture and respond to the lived experiences of those facing disadvantage. This would, finally, mean that the right questions are being asked and the right voices are being heard.
Source: https://theconversation.com/how-the-language-we-use-entrenches-inequalities-124664
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