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Book review: Language and Power: A Resource Book for Students By Paul Simpson and Andrea Mayr, 2010. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 256. ISBN 0415469007 (pbk)
Matt Davies Language and Literature 2010 19: 221 DOI: 10.1177/0963947010361771 The online version of this article can be found at: http://lal.sagepub.com/content/19/2/221

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Book reviews

Language and Literature 19(2) 221229 The Author(s) 2010 Reprints and permission: sagepub. co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0963947010361771 http://lal.sagepub.com

Language and Power: A Resource Book for Students By Paul Simpson and Andrea Mayr, 2010. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 256. ISBN 0415469007 (pbk). Reviewed by: Matt Davies, University of Chester, UK

Ku Klux Klan jokes, a Jamie Oliver campaign, and the marketization of UK universities are just a taste of the fascinating data utilized to great effect in Language and Power a splendid addition to the Routledge series of introductory resource books for students of language and linguistics. These flexi-texts are organized into four sections: A Introduction, B Development, C Exploration and D Extension. Ten themes are numbered across each section (e.g. Language in the new capitalism A9 D9) so that students can choose to follow through on the topics that interest them with introductory material, a range of useful examples and discussions, and a specialist reading from an expert in the field. Language and Power also includes an extra web-based Strand (11) consisting of supplementary material available on the accompanying website (www. routledge.com/textbooks/reli) which provides advanced and critical reflections on some of the approaches taken in the book. Paul Simpson and Andrea Mayr set out their stall in the first few pages with a lucid exploration of the central concepts of ideology, hegemony and language as discourse, fittingly tipping the hat to Marx, Gramsci and Althusser, figures who seem to have dropped off the radar in many introductory books on language and power. The writers are explicit about their position, opposing the liberal view of language, which assumes the free neutral exchange of information between language users. Instead they start from the assumption that language is influenced by ideology and moreover, that all texts ... are inexorably shaped and determined by political or ideological influence (p. 3). Importantly, they avoid the pitfalls of many academic cultural studies of ideology and discourse which often mystify the novice with esoteric jargon whilst offering little concrete evidence for the reader to get a handle on how power through language is exercised in practice. Without dumbing down the complexities of the arguments Language and Power keeps its feet firmly on the ground with a goldmine of up-to-date examples which illustrate some of the insidious ways that power is routinely exercised through language and supporting the writers claim that a close linguistic analysis can help us understand how ideology is embedded in language (p. 3). The writers bring a fresh approach to the standard language and power topics gender, race, advertising, politics, institutional discourse, and power and talk by explaining and utilizing a variety of models to analyse a wealth of linguistic data.

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In the Language and gender strand (Chapter 4), whilst conducting a whistle-stop tour of the dominance, difference, and deficit approaches, and exploring sexist language, the writers show, for instance, how an analysis of transitivity patterns in news headlines and stories subtly construct female (mainly working class) victims of rape and murder as partially responsible for the horrors inflicted on them. The gender section also focuses on the recent research area of the linguistic construction of masculinity. Students are encouraged to conduct a critical reading of Benwells (2002) article on masculinity in texts aimed at men, which argues that magazines such as Loaded, Maxim and GQ are attempting to smuggle traditional male values and gender relationships in through the back door under the guise of irony. Simpson and Mayr, however, conduct their own minisurvey of mens and womens magazines and conclude that nowadays womens magazines objectify men as much as mens magazines have objectified women for decades, using similar language and imagery (p. 129). Language and Power therefore offers students an accessible academic reading, but then also encourages them (through example) to collect similar data so they can draw their own tentative conclusions whilst keeping an open mind to the fluid nature of power relations. Where Language and Power really makes its mark however is the inclusion of sections on Humour, Language and Power (Strand 6), Forensic Linguistics (in Strand 7 on Language and the Law) and Language and New Capitalism: Developments (Strand 9). The writers are critical of the lack of recognition of the importance of humour in the field of critical discourse analysis
whose principal remit is after all to highlight and to challenge the discourse practices of powerful and interested groups, [and which] has not noticed how humour can be used as a tool of repression and ridicule by the powerful, or as a form of resistance by the less powerful. (pp. 256)

They offer evidence as diverse as: a politically correct Christmas card; the imprisonment by the Burmese government of their leading comedians at the first sign of civil unrest; and the dismissal of a Muslim lawyer from her job in the British Crown Prosecution Service in Bradford, partially because she made a humorous throwaway remark about being a friend of Osama bin Laden to a security guard at Bradford airport. Some of the most shocking data in this section are in the extension material, for example Michael Billigs (2001) research into the extreme racist jokes of the Ku Klux Klan which celebrates violence against African-Americans whilst offering disclaimers that it is not inciting violence and racial hatred. These disclaimers however are themselves written in an attempt to be humorous for instance Remember dont kill n***ers [no asterisks in original], they are a protected species under affirmative action laws! (p. 191), which itself then needs a more serious disclaimer in an attempt to avoid prosecution under racial hatred laws. Simpson and Mayr comment that in a survey of disturbing and often horrific material, Billig makes a convincing case that there are integral links between extreme hatred and dehumanizing, violent humour (p. 186). The writers have clearly decided to pull no punches in their choices of material with data that also include Kate Haworths (2006) analysis of chilling transcripts of Harold Shipman the doctor who murdered 260 of his patients being interviewed by the police

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(pp. 16472), and a seemingly bland set of instructions on vehicle maintenance written in a formal technical register, often using the passive voice (For easy cleaning, there must be a covered drain in the middle of the floor), which is revealed to have been written in 1942 for a prototype van designed to pump poisonous exhaust fumes into the rear of the vehicle (p. 60) as part of the final solution in Nazi Germany. Much of Strand 7, Language and the Law, is taken up with recent developments in forensic linguistics, such as the exploration of asymmetrical power relations in court cross-examinations. Data include: an absurdly complex cross-examination of a nineyear-old child in court; the unfair treatment of Australian aborigines by interrogators; and Simpsons own involvement in the appeal of a homeless alcoholic Irish woman unfairly convicted of murder by starting a house fire in the UK. Another strength of Language and Power is the topicality of much of the data. For instance an analysis of the University of Salfords Employability Policy and Strategy (20052008) demonstrates the increasingly marketized orientation of British Universities (p. 100). They investigate the creeping corporatization of the UK higher education sector and its reflection/perpetuation in language such as business, enterprise, innovation competitive, employability and so on, which is routinely used by politicians and higher management to refer to the education of university students. Crucially, Language and Power does not take a one-sided pessimistic determinist view of the power of language to oppress and perpetuate unequal power relations. There are some uplifting examples of stereotypes and other unfair practices being challenged through language. A workshop on the representation of social actors includes the local newspaper Leicester Mercurys attempt to portray the multiculturalism of the city in a positive way, reporting and challenging the openly racist views of some of the less enlightened residents. Readers should also feel inspired by the talk of American so-called welfare mothers resisting derogatory labels to stereotype them as lazy and promiscuous (pp. 11920). And even those cynical of TV chef Jamie Oliver will find it difficult not to be impressed with his 2005 School Dinners campaign, which managed to secure funding from the government to improve school meals in the UK. Olivers colourful rants against, for instance, reconstituted Turkey Twizzlers (Fucking Turkey Twizzlers I tell you what, Im gonna fucking send a bomb round their factory to shove it right up the jacksie of the MD), means that he comes across as authentic, ordinary, honest ... challenging authority in a cheeky chappy manner, and expressing indifference to political decorum (p. 107). It is clear that Simpson and Mayr have taken a meticulous approach to the choice and organization of their material, creating a cohesive structure whereby each strand and the examples contained within logically relate to those adjacent, making both horizontal readings (across strands) and vertical readings (between strands) a convenient and pleasurable experience for the student of language. The new decade ushers in the prospect of a UK General Election, increased disillusionment with western incursions into Iraq and Afghanistan, a deepening economic recession and growing fears over climate change. The role of discourse in the ways these situations are debated, represented and challenged will be high on the agenda, and Language and Power is likely to be an invaluable resource in the armoury of the socially aware student of critical linguistics.

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Benwell, B. (2002) Is There Anything New About These Lads? The Textual and Visual Construction of Masculinity in Mens Magazines, in L. Litosseliti (ed.) Gender Identity and Discourse Analysis, pp. 14974. Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins. Billig, M. (2001) Humour and Hatred: The Racist Jokes of the Ku Klux Klan, Discourse and Society 12(3): 26789. Haworth, K. (2006) The Dynamics of Power and Resistance in Police Interview Discourse, Discourse and Society 17(6): 73959. (accessed January 2010) www.routledge.com/textbooks/reli

Language and Power. An Introduction to Institutional Discourse, Edited by Andrea Mayr, 2008. London: Continuum International Publishing Group, pp. xx + 204. ISBN 978 08264 8743 8 (hbk) Reviewed by: Ulrike Tabbert, University of Huddersf ield, UK

This book, which can be recommended for undergraduate and postgraduate students, focuses on institutional discourse and approaches this topic from various different and sometimes refreshingly unusual angles. While the book is credited on the cover to Andrea Mayr, it is in fact a collection of articles edited by Mayr (though she has either written or co-authored the majority of them). The book covers a broad variety of examples of institutional discourses in just 185 pages of text divided into eight chapters. The first three chapters are by Mayr herself. Chapter 1 gives a brief introduction to institutional discourse where the basic terms, such as institution, discourse, Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and ideology are explained and different streams of power research are outlined. Starting out from Hallidays (1994) metafunctions of language, this chapter offers an explanation of the stylistic principles of transitivity, modality and theme and concludes with a brief summary of each of the following chapters. Chapter 2 considers the structure of university discourse by applying a CDA approach to the close linguistic analysis of four texts taken from British universities. Herein the author follows Norman Faircloughs (1993) notion of universities as enterprises and knowledge as a commodity and concludes that British universities are increasingly marketized. A highlight of this research is an analysis of a one-day Negotiation Skills Training Course for academic and non-academic staff at a university which emphasizes the fact that by using trainings like these a shared mindset (p. 43) in the universitys workforce is developed. Chapter 3 turns towards prison discourse and analyses a cognitive rehabilitation programme for prisoners in a Scottish prison. The corpus for this analysis has been gained through attending the prison classes held by trained prison officers. Using a CDA approach combined with Systemic Functional Linguistics the author shows how grammatical and syntactical forms create meanings about prisoners as common sense (p. 60). She doubts whether prisoners are completely overwhelmed by institutional power executed

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