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Discourse and Class A Call for Papers for a special issue of Critical Discourse Studies Edited by David Machin and John E Richardson Deadline 14 January Class and class divisions remain central forces in shaping the ways we live now. Indeed, arguably, in neo-liberal capitalist societies, class remains the primary division of structured social inequality. Massive sections of our populations experience inadequate access to employment, housing, education and health. These inequalities cut across ethnic, 'racial' and gender groups and seem, on one level, to create a shared set of life experiences and responses. Importantly, the working classes also have few opportunities to represent such collective experiences and take an active role in disseminating their own discourses. This special edition seeks papers that theorise, analyse and account for discourse as a site of class inequality. Of course, this means being able to consider what we mean by class, since many of the poorer socioeconomic groups are now part of communities that have never known work. We welcome articles examining discourse in relation to class structure, class formation, class culture, class consciousness and class action. Possible topics include, but are not limited to, the following: * What can the concept of discourse offer to class analysis? Do discourse analysts merely combat the phrases of the world? * What role does discourse play in the formation, perpetuation and transformation of class? * In what ways does class inequality relate to discourses of state, governance, and control? * How are inequalities based on social class recontextualised through official discourse? Does elite discourse define the parameters for debate in ways that tend to serve elite interests and sideline those of the poor? * How does class cut across ethnic and 'racial' group identity? In what ways does class relate to racial projects and formations? * How do the middle and upper classes conceptualise and represent their position and role within a class structure? * In what ways do the mass media relate to class relations and class conflict? As purveyors of palliative ideological messages, sites of contradiction and conflict, or both? * How do cinema films and fictional television genres represent class? * What outlets and opportunities do the working classes have to represent themselves and their collective experiences? * What are the potentials for 'alternative', citizen and user-generated media? * What role, if any, can discourse (and discourse analysis) play in social, political or economic transformation? Applicants may submit abstracts of no more than 250 words to John Richardson at [log in to unmask] The deadline for the submission of abstracts is 14th January 2008, and accepted authors will be informed no later than two weeks from this date. For accepted articles the deadline for submission is end of May 2008. Critical Discourse Studies is an interdisciplinary journal for the social sciences. Its primary aim is to publish critical research that advances our understanding of how discourse figures in social processes, social structures and social change. For further details of the journal's aims, scope and instructions for authors, see here: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/17405904.asp <http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/17405904.asp> Dept of Social Sciences Loughborough University Epinal Way Loughborough Leicestershire LE11 3TU UK +44(0)1509 228874 http://www.languageandcapitalism.info/ http://www.freewebs.com/johnrichardson/ 'Know that no one is silent though many are not heard. Work to change this.' _________________________________________________________________ Who's friends with who and co-starred in what? http://www.searchgamesbox.com/celebrityseparation.shtml