Bennett 1983

Bennett, Adrian T. 1983. "Discourses of power, the dialectics of understanding, the power of literacy." Journal of Education.

Makes the study of literacy a major focus of attention in

• sociolinguistics
• psycholinguistics, and
• anthropological linguistics.

Understanding is vague how literacy affects both consciousness and social relations. Sociolinguists have greatly expanded knowledge of the nature, forms, and uses of a variety of literacies.

Cannot answer the question, "Why do particular modes of literacy correlate with particular modes of social organization, cultural form, and political and economic developments?" To answer the question, examine the constitution of meanings and the simultaneous constitution of social relations. Are clearly in a dialectical relationship in some forms of discourse, as demonstrated through an analysis of a narrative elicited from a highly creative Mexican-American child. Specifics of that dialectic need to be examined on interpersonal and institutional levels before thinking about the relationships of power, communicative practice, and consciousness (abstract).

• Bibliography module: Bennett 1983
• In overview module: Bibliography (Literacy): B
• In modular book: Bibliography (Literacy), by Doris Gallemore, Trudi C. Hunt, Jeanne Swanson, and Stephen L. Walter
• In document collection: Reference materials
• In bookshelf: Literacy

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 4.0, published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 1999. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 18 May 1999

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