Language, Interaction, and Inequality

Abstract

an original active learning exercise that in corporates both referential and constructiv ist perspectives on the role of language in the social world. The exercise encourages students to view language as both a vehicle for transmitting sociologically-relevant con tent (e.g., attitudes, perspectives, justifica tions) as well as a vehicle through which actors construct social relations and social locations in ways that reflect and maintain social inequalities. When language surfaces in the sociologi cal curriculum, it is typically in discussions of culture, stereotypes, individual/group attitudes, and accounts. These approaches tend to center on the representative function of language?that is, what is said and the meanings that are conveyed (Heritage 1984). In addition, language can also be presented in the sociological classroom from a constructivist perspective. In focus ing on linguistic acts as being social prac tices that accomplish a range of social or stylistic functions, Zimmerman (2005) ex