London adolescents (re)producing power/knowledge

You know and I know

Bibliographic Data

ID2907935
AuthorsAnthea Irwin (0000-0001-6335-244X, Glasgow Caledonian University, corresponding author)
Year2006
Volume35
Issue4
Pages499-528
Publication date2006-10-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLanguage in Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0047-4045 • E-ISSN: 1469-8013
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0047404506060234
OpenAlexW2121771030
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited22

This article links the use of you know in a group of mostly working-class London adolescents (WCG) and I know in a mostly middle-class group (MCG) to Foucault's notion of power/knowledge and, by extension, to group-specific (re)production of dominant discourses and power relations. Speakers in WCG use you know clause-finally to mark the information in that clause, which tends to be about the deviance of others, as dominant. Speakers in MCG use I know either clause-initially or as a stand-alone item in reaction to the previous speaker's utterance and to mark that utterance as dominant. Thus, the use of you know shows relatively active identity construction while the use of I know shows relatively reactive identity construction, but both groups construct their identities indirectly: WCG because they talk about others, and MCG because they react to others. Relations between these processes and class and gender identities are discussed

Aesthetics · Class (philosophy) · Epistemology · Identity (music) · Linguistics · Need to know · Sociology · Utterance · Computer Science · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Multilingual Education and Policy · Philosophy · Psychology

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