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6 - Situating Ideological Work

from Part III - Sites

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 June 2019

Susan Gal
Affiliation:
University of Chicago
Judith T. Irvine
Affiliation:
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
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Summary

Where do we find evidence of ideology? This chapter defines a “site” of ideological work as a focus of joint attention for making construals. This presumes a plurality of actor viewpoints and gazes, uptakes that notice an object of attention and construe it via contrastive sign-relations. A site of ideological work is not inherently bounded. The gaze identifies a central focus; boundary-making is a separate activity. Research questions are implied: Who picks out a phenomenon for scrutiny? How does the gaze produce and represent it, through what semiotic properties and contrasts? Who participates? Who and what are excluded? Do participants’ semiotic moves differ from the researcher’s meta-move? The example of a site with no text or talk – glass panes on doors at a university – shows how even a simple case reveals multiple gazes as participants reacted variously to the panes and projected different communicative ideologies onto the reactions of others. Sites inevitably open up other sites and construals. It shows that distinguishing between implicit and explicit ideologies conflates several issues: conscious awareness, willingness to speak, contestation, and relative dominance.

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Chapter
Information
Signs of Difference
Language and Ideology in Social Life
, pp. 167 - 189
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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