Language and Power (AMA)

Question 1

What is Power?

Answer 1

Power = the ability or capacity to do something in a particular way, or to direct and influence the behaviour of others or the course of events.

Question 2

What are the 2 main types of Power?

Answer 2

1. Instrumental Power = power with the authority to tell someone what to do. Failure to comply with this can lead to punishment or other consequences.
2. Influential Power = power with the ability to persuade or influence. They cannot tell us what to do or impose consequences, but they can use strategies to make us believe what they say.

Question 3

What are the 3 main sources of Power?

Answer 3

1. Political = it comes from the State or government.
2. Personal = it comes from my role (e.g. a parent)
3. Social / Social Group = it comes because I belong to a particular social group linked by factors such as gender, age, social class, ethnicity and culture.

Question 4

What are Symmetrical and Asymmetrical Power?

Answer 4

• Symmetrical Power = participants in an exchange have equal power
• Asymmetrical Power = participants in an exchange have unequal power

Question 5

What did Norman Fairclough suggest?

Answer 5

Fairclough suggested that many interactions are ‘unequal encounters’, with one communication participant (e.g. speaker, writer) seen as the more powerful.