Abstract
This special issue contributes to understanding the role of language division of labour across occupations. The articles contribute to sociological understanding and critical dialogue with a human capital perspective in the context of the information society, where language has a central role in production processes. Since information as raw material and product is linguistically encoded, language occupies a central role in new forms of division of labour. The main question in this introduction and subsequent articles is to what extent social changes of information centrality at the production level reproduce or create new social inequalities observable through the lens of language division of labour within occupations. Although progress has been made in knowledge about competencies in the information and digital environment, little is known about specific linguistic needs across occupational classifications. Given the widespread use of alphabetization, literacy is today taken as a sine qua non for entering labour markets, instead of a stratifier across occupations and social structure. Nevertheless, in this special issue authors show that language of origin, second-language knowledge, and other literacies, such as communicative skills, become key stratifier factors. This is observable at the territorial level, types of literacies, as well as in specific and sophisticated language professions.
Funding source: Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad
Award Identifier / Grant number: CSO2015-24247-P
Research funding: The research has been funded by Ministerio de Economía y Competitivida (Grant no. CSO2015-24247-P).
References
Alarcón, Amado & Josiah M. Heyman. 2013. Bilingual call centers at the US-Mexico border: Location and linguistic markers of exploitability. Language in Society 42. 1–21.10.1017/S0047404512000875Search in Google Scholar
Alarcón, Amado, Josiah Heyman, Maria Cristina Morales & Antonio Di Paolo. 2014. The occupational location of Spanish-English bilinguals in the new information economy. In Rebecca M. Callahan & Patricia C. Gándara (eds.), The bilingual advantage: Language, literacy, and the labour market, 110–137. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.10.21832/9781783092437-006Search in Google Scholar
Ayuso, Maria Luz & Nicolás Arata. 2009. De artesanos a trabajadores: dos estudios sobre la regulación de los saberes del trabajo. Educaçao Unisinos 13(3). 211–219. https://doi.org/10.4013/edu.2009.133.03.Search in Google Scholar
Balcar, Jiri. 2016. Is it better to invest in hard or soft skills? The Economic and Labour Relations Review 27(4). 453–470. https://doi.org/10.1177/1035304616674613.Search in Google Scholar
Block, David. 2017. What on earth is ‘language commodification’. Sloganizations in language education discourse. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.10.21832/9781788921879-008Search in Google Scholar
Bourdieu, Pierre. 1991. Language and symbolic power. Harvard: Harvard University Press.Search in Google Scholar
Boutet, Josephine. 2001. La part langagière du travail: bilan et évolution. Langage et Société 4. 17–42. https://doi.org/10.3917/ls.098.0017.Search in Google Scholar
Boutet, Josephine. 2012. Language workers: Emblematic figures of late capitalism. Language in late capitalism, 217–239. Oxfordshire: Routledge.10.4324/9780203155868-15Search in Google Scholar
Cameron, Deborah. 2002. Globalization and the teaching of “communication skills”. Globalization and language teaching, 77–92. Oxfordshire: Routledge.10.4324/9780203193679Search in Google Scholar
Cameron, Deborah. 2005. Communication and commodification. In Guido Erreygers & Geert Jacobs (eds.), Language, communication and the economy, vol. 16, 9–23. Amsterdam & Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins.10.1075/dapsac.16.04camSearch in Google Scholar
Carr, Edward G. 1985. Behavioral approaches to language and communication. In Communication problems in autism, 37–57. Boston, MA: Springer.10.1007/978-1-4757-4806-2_3Search in Google Scholar
Castells, Manuel. 1996. The Rise of the network society. Volume I, the information age: Economy. Oxford, Blackwell: Society and Culture.Search in Google Scholar
Cédric, Poivret. 2015. L’enseignement commercial en France durant le XIXème siècle : évolution et impact sur le développement de savoirs explicites a l’intention des gestionnaires. Lille France: XXIème Journées d’Histoire du Management et des Organisations.Search in Google Scholar
Chiswick, Barry R. & Paul W. Miller. 2003. The complementarity of language and other human capital: Immigrant earnings in Canada. Economics of Education Review 22(5). 469–480. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0272-7757(03)00037-2.Search in Google Scholar
Church, Jeffrey & Ian King. 1993. Bilingualism and network externalities. Canadian Journal of Economics 26. 337–345. https://doi.org/10.2307/135911.Search in Google Scholar
Cohen, David. 2009. Three lectures on post-industrial society. Massachusetts: MIT Press.10.7551/mitpress/7970.001.0001Search in Google Scholar
Coulmas, Florian. 1992. Language and economy. Oxford: Blackwell.Search in Google Scholar
Coulmas, Florian. 2013. Writing and society: An introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9781139061063Search in Google Scholar
De Swaan, Abraham. 1998. A political sociology of the world language system (1): The dynamics of language spread. Language Problems and Language Planning 22(1). 63–75. https://doi.org/10.1075/lplp.22.1.04swa.Search in Google Scholar
Dhir, Krishna S. 2019. Contribution of language to the creation of corporate social capital. Revista Internacional de Organizaciones 23. 243–263. https://doi.org/10.17345/rio23.243-263.Search in Google Scholar
Duchêne, Alexandre. 2009. Marketing, management and performance: Multilingualism as commodity in a tourism call centre. Language Policy 8(1). 27–50. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10993-008-9115-6.Search in Google Scholar
Duchêne, Alexandre & Monica Heller. 2012. Language in late capitalism. Pride and profit. Oxfordshire: Routledge.10.4324/9780203155868Search in Google Scholar
Dustmann, Christian. 1999. Temporary migration, human capital, and language fluency of migrants. Scandinavian Journal of Economics 101(2). 297–314. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9442.00158.Search in Google Scholar
Eisenstadt, Shmuel Noah. 1964. Social change, differentiation and evolution. American Sociological Review 29. 375–386. https://doi.org/10.2307/2091481.Search in Google Scholar
European Commission. 2018. Proposal for a council recommendation on key competences for lifelong learning. 2018/0008 (NLE). Brussels: European Commission Publication Office.Search in Google Scholar
Fishman, Joshua A., Charles A. Ferguson & Jyotirindra Dasgupta (eds.). 1968. Language problems of developing nations, 146. New York: Wiley.Search in Google Scholar
Flubacher, Mi-Cha, Renata Coray & Alexandre Duchêne. 2016. Language, integration, and investment: The regulation of diversity in the context of unemployment. Multilingua 35(6). 675–696. https://doi.org/10.1515/multi-2015-0075.Search in Google Scholar
Flubacher, Mi-Cha, Alexandre Duchêne & Renata Coray. 2018. Language investment and employability: An introduction. In Language investment and employability, 1–32. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.10.1007/978-3-319-60873-0_1Search in Google Scholar
Fry, Richard & Lindsay Lowell. 2003. The value of bilingualism in the U.S. labour market. Industrial and Labour Relations Review 57(1). 128–140. https://doi.org/10.1177/001979390305700107.Search in Google Scholar
García, Ofelia, Nelson Flores & Massimiliano Spotti (eds.). 2017. The Oxford handbook of language and society. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190212896.001.0001Search in Google Scholar
Gazzola, Michelle & Daniele Mazzacani. 2019. Foreign language skills and employment status of European natives: Evidence from Germany, Italy and Spain. Empirica 46(4). 713–740. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10663-019-09460-7.Search in Google Scholar
Gazzola, Michelle & Bengt-Arne Wickström (eds.). 2016. The economics of language policy. Massachusetts: MIT Press.10.7551/mitpress/9780262034708.001.0001Search in Google Scholar
Gellner, Ernest. 1983. Nations and nationalism. Oxford: Blackwell.Search in Google Scholar
Grin, François, Claudio Sfreddo & François Vaillancourt. 2011. The economics of the multilingual workplace. Oxfordshire: Routledge.10.4324/9780203852675Search in Google Scholar
Hall, Chris. 2018. Language danger: Metal gear solid V and the weaponization of English. International Journal of Transmedia Literacy (IJTL) 4. 69–89. https://doi.org/10.7358/ijtl-2018-003-hall.Search in Google Scholar
Heller, Monica. 2005. Language, skill and authenticity in the globalized new economy. Noves SL: Revista de Sociolingüística (invierno) 5(2). 1–12.Search in Google Scholar
Holborow, Marnie. 2018. Language, commodification and labour: The relevance of Marx. Language Sciences 70. 59–67. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.langsci.2018.02.002.Search in Google Scholar
Isphording, Ingo Eduard 2015. Language and labour market success. In James D. Wright (ed.), International encyclopedia of the social and behavioral sciences, 2nd edn., vol. 13, 260–265. Oxford (UK): Elsevier.10.1016/B978-0-08-097086-8.94033-9Search in Google Scholar
Kelly-Holmes, Helen & Gerlinde Mautner (eds.). 2010. Language and the market. London: Palgrave Macmillan.10.1007/978-0-230-29692-3Search in Google Scholar
Klein, Cameron, René E. DeRouin & Eduardo Salas. 2006. Uncovering workplace interpersonal skills: A review, framework, and research agenda. In Gerard P. Hodgkinson & J. Kevin Ford (eds.), International review of industrial and organizational psychology, vol. 21, 79–126. New York: John Wiley and Sons.10.1002/9780470696378.ch3Search in Google Scholar
Markowitsch, Jorg & Claudia Plaimauer. 2009. Descriptors for competence: Towards an international standard classification for skills and competences. Journal of European Industrial Training 33(8/9). 817–837. https://doi.org/10.1108/03090590910993652.Search in Google Scholar
Martin, Graham. P., David Kocman, Timothy Stephens, Carol J. Peden & Rupert M. Pearse. 2017. Pathways to professionalism? Quality improvement, care pathways, and the interplay of standardisation and clinical autonomy. Sociology of Health & Illness 39(8). 1314–1329. https://doi.org/10.1108/03090590910993652.Search in Google Scholar
Myers-Scotton, Carol. 1982. Language use in Kenya: An urban-rural comparison of the Luyia. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 1982(34). 121–136. https://doi.org/10.1515/ijsl.1982.34.121.Search in Google Scholar
Myers-Scotton, Carol. 1993. Elite closure as a powerful language strategy: The African case. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 103(1). 149–164. https://doi.org/10.1515/ijsl.1993.103.149.Search in Google Scholar
OECD. 2016. Skills matter: Further results from the survey of adult skills. Paris: OECD Publishing.Search in Google Scholar
Parkin, Frank. 1974. Strategies of social closure in class formation. In Frank Parkin (ed.), The social analysis of class structure. London: Tavistock.Search in Google Scholar
Parsons, Talcot. 1966. Societies: Evolutionary and comparative perspectives. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.Search in Google Scholar
Pascale, Celine-Marine. 2019. The weaponization of language: Discourses of rising right-wing authoritarianism. Current Sociology 67(6). 898–917. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011392119869963.Search in Google Scholar
Pasquinelli, Mateo. 2014. The labour of abstraction: Seven transitional theses on marxism and accelerationism. Fillip Magazine 19. 9–19.10.22394/0869-5377-2018-2-55-64Search in Google Scholar
Pool, Jonathan. 1972. National development and language diversity. In Joshua A. Fishman (ed.), Selected studies and applications, 213–230. The Hague: De Gruyter Mouton.10.1515/9783110880434-011Search in Google Scholar
Quintini, Glenda. 2018. Automation, skills use and training (No. 202). Paris: OECD Publishing.Search in Google Scholar
Rafael, Vicente L. 2012. Targeting Translation counterinsurgency and the weaponization of language. Social Text 30(4 (113)). 55–80. https://doi.org/10.1215/01642472-1725793.Search in Google Scholar
Reich, Robert B. 1992. The work of nations: Preparing ourselves for 21st century capitalism. Challenge 34(2). 60–64.10.1080/05775132.1991.11471501Search in Google Scholar
Schnepf, Sylke Viola. 2007. Immigrants’ educational disadvantage: An examination across ten countries and three surveys. Journal of Population Economics 20(3). 527–545.10.1007/s00148-006-0102-ySearch in Google Scholar
Sen, Barbara Anne & Robert Taylor. 2007. Determining the information needs of small and medium-sized enterprises: A critical success factor analysis. Information Research 12(4). 1–18.Search in Google Scholar
Smith, Adam. 1776, consulted edition 1991. The Wealth of Nations. London: Everyman’s Library, David Campbell Publishers Ltd.Search in Google Scholar
Solé, Carlota. 1976. Modernización: un análisis sociológico. Coleccion Homo Sociologicus. Barcelona: Península.Search in Google Scholar
Solé, Carlota. 1987. Sociedades avanzadas: transfromaciones básicas y nuevas tecnologías. Papers: revista de sociologia 28. 77–90. https://doi.org/10.5565/rev/papers/v28n0.1526.Search in Google Scholar
Tsai, Shu-Ling. 2010. Language skills and status attainment in Taiwan. Journal of Language, Identity, and Education 9(4). 229–249.10.1080/15348458.2010.503914Search in Google Scholar
Ubalde, Josep & Amado Alarcón. 2020. Are all automation-resistant skills rewarded? Linguistic skills in the US labour market. The Economic and Labour Relations Review 31. 403–424. https://doi.org/10.1177/1035304620903152.Search in Google Scholar
Urciuoli, Bonnie. 2008. Skills and selves in the new workplace. American Ethnologist 35(2). 211–228.10.1111/j.1548-1425.2008.00031.xSearch in Google Scholar
Urciuoli, Bonnie & Chausie LaDousa. 2013. Language management/labor. Annual Review of Anthropology 42. 175–190.10.1146/annurev-anthro-092412-155524Search in Google Scholar
Vidal, Antoni & Alarcón Alarcón. 2021. Language and occupations in the digital age. Tarragona: Publicacions URV.10.1515/ijsl-2021-0036Search in Google Scholar
Vine, Bernardette (ed.). 2017. The Routledge handbook of language in the workplace. Oxfordshire: Routledge.10.4324/9781315690001Search in Google Scholar
Williams, Glyn. 2010. The knowledge economy, language and culture. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.10.21832/9781847692528Search in Google Scholar
Williams, Dorothy, Katie Cooper & Caroline Wavell. 2014. Information literacy in the workplace: An annotated bibliography. Aberdeen: Robert Gordon University.Search in Google Scholar
Woodcock, Jamie. 2017. Working the Phones: Control and Resistance in Call Centres. London: Pluto Press.10.2307/j.ctt1h64kwwSearch in Google Scholar
© 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
