In Pursuit of English

Language and Subjectivity in Neoliberal South Korea
Erscheinungsjahr 2021
ISBN: 978-0-19-085574-1
Verlag: Oxford University Press

Buch, Englisch, 200 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 233 mm, Gewicht: 304 g

Reihe: Oxford Studies in Sociolinguistics

In Pursuit of English traces how the English language became an object of heated pursuit amid South Korea's rapid neoliberalization, creating the so-called "English fever" of the 1990s and 2000s. Joseph Sung-Yul Park demonstrates that English gained prominence not because of the language's supposed economic value, but because of the anxieties, insecurities, and moral desire instilled by neoliberal Korean society. Park shows how English came to be seen as an
index of an ideal neoliberal subject who willingly engages in constant self-management and self-development in response to the changing conditions of the global economy.

Bringing together ethnographically-oriented perspectives on subjectivity, critical analysis of conditions of contemporary capitalism, theories of neoliberal governmentality, and sociolinguistic and linguistic anthropological frameworks of metapragmatic analysis, In Pursuit of English develops an innovative new direction for research at the intersection language and political economy, challenging researchers to consider subjectivity as the key for understanding the place of language in
neoliberalism.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Sung-Yul Park, Joseph

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Internationale Beziehungen Geopolitik
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Moderne Philosophische Disziplinen Philosophische Anthropologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Sprachwissenschaft Soziolinguistik
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Volkswirtschaftslehre Wirtschaftspolitik, politische Ökonomie
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Asiatische Geschichte
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Regierungspolitik Wirtschafts- und Finanzpolitik

Über Autor(innen)

Joseph Sung-Yul Park is Associate Professor in the Department of English Language and Literature at the National University of Singapore. He is the author of The Local Construction of a Global Language: Ideologies of English in South Korea and co-author of Markets of English: Linguistic Capital and Language Policy in a Globalizing World and A Reference Grammar of Wappo.