Premium
Globalization, the new economy, and the commodification of language and identity
Author(s) -
Heller Monica
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of sociolinguistics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1
H-Index - 51
eISSN - 1467-9841
pISSN - 1360-6441
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9841.2003.00238.x
Subject(s) - commodification , hybridity , sociology , identity (music) , globalization , french , ethnography , national identity , gender studies , anthropology , linguistics , political science , economy , economics , aesthetics , law , philosophy , politics
The globalized new economy is bound up with transformations of language and identity in many different ways (cf., e.g. Bauman 1997; Castells 2000; Giddens 1990). These include emerging tensions between State‐based and corporate identities and language practices, between local, national and supra‐national identities and language practices, and between hybridity and uniformity. Ethnolinguistic minorities provide a particularly revealing window into these processes. In this paper, I explore ways in which the globalized new economy has resulted in the commodification of language and identity, sometimes separately, sometimes together. The paper is based on recent ethnographic, sociolinguistic research in francophone areas of Canada.