Language Awareness in Business and the Professions

Abstract

The crucial role language plays in constituting our reality, and in achieving political influence and control, has long been known in scholarship. However, appreciation of the role of language in understanding our social realities and power relations has not been fully translated to education or even to research beyond linguistically focussed academic strands. Bringing together well-established scholars from a range of disciplines, this book demonstrates why language awareness and discourse consciousness should be considered a key skill in business and professional life, and looks closely at language in areas such as entrepreneurship, leadership, human resource management, medical, financial, or business communication, ecology, media, and politics. The authors demonstrate how the understanding of the minutiae of language use in a variety of professional contexts leads to knowledge that will empower future generations of professionals and enable them to develop a self-reflexive, critical, and more ethical practice.