Neoliberalism, Globalisation and Englishism: Exploring Ideological Assumptions Attached with the English Language in Pakistan

Abstract

Due to globalization, English has become the language of communication among most of the speakers of other languages. Most nonnative speakers of English use it as a lingua franca to communicate with each other. English has also become the language of education and most countries are turning towards English and thus it is becoming a necessary element in the job market. Resultantly, English is usually considered as a commodity supported by neoliberal ideologies under which individuals contest among each other for personal and professional success which make individuals neoliberal subjects. English has become an integral part of the sociolinguistics scenario of the global south including Pakistan threatening local languages in the linguistics landscape. Drawing from ideology of neoliberalism and Blommaert’s sociolinguistics of globalization this study uses phenomenological design to explore perceptions regarding the English language in Pakistan. The study uses semi-structured qualitative interviews and already published interviews of the toppers of the top-notch CSS exam as data sources and analyzes it through constructivist grounded theory. The study concludes that instead of using English as a communicative tool, English has got the status of commodity and is considered a source of social prestige. People invest in English which consequently pays in the form of prestigious jobs in the market thus become neoliberal subjects treated like a commodity.KeywordsGlobalizationNeoliberalismIdeological assumptionsCommoditySocial prestigeIdeologyPerceptionPakistanEnglish Global south