English Language- Power Theories

-Talks about how conversations can be unequal encounters. This is because one participant holds more power than the other so constrains the discourse. This power can be due to two reasons:

Power behind discourse: This is about the contextual factors behind an interaction. A police officer has legal power, the Queen has the power of the monarchy, a teacher has the power given to them by the school system. This means that they hold more power than most other speakers and can control the discourse. 

Power within discourse: This is about how a power imbalance is created through the actual language itself. For example, imperative sentences and certian modal verbs can demonstrate authority 'You will go to bed.'

-Also dicusses synthetic personalisation in adverts. This is a technique which addresses a mass audience as individuals to build a personalised relationship with the consumer- influencing them to buy the product. It often involves second person pronouns such as 'You can't miss our big spring sale!' 

-There are two main types of power: 

Instrumental power- This is an obvious type of power that is enforced by authority. If you disobey this type of power there will be tangible consequences- for example getting arrested by a police officer. 

Influential power- This is a more subtle type of power which persuedes someone to act a certain way. It is common in advertisments. 

-Power can come from three sources: 

-Political Power (Police officers, politicians- they have the force of the law behind them) 

-Personal Power (Teacher, doctor, boss- they have power due to their job or role) 

-Social-group Power (High-class, adults, white- they have power because their group is considered more powerful in society.)  

-Initiation, Response, Feedback Model

-This is the most common discourse structure in classroom environments, it is initiated by the teacher.

-Shows that conversational patterns follow a rather ridgid structure in educational environments because of the personal power the teacher has over all their students.