Neoliberalism and Applied Linguistics

Block, David; Gray, John & Holborow, Marnie (2012). Neoliberalism and Applied Linguistics. London: Routledge.

Neoliberalism and Applied Linguistics explores neoliberalism – a view of the world that puts the market at its centre- from the perspective of applied linguistics. It  argues that while applied linguistics has become more interdisciplinary in orientation, it has ignored or downplayed the role of political economy, namely the way in which social, political and economic factors relate to one another within the context of a capitalist economy. The authors take the view that engagement with political economy is central to any fully rounded analysis of language and language-related issues in the world today and their collaboration in this volume represents an initial attempt to redress what they perceive to be an imbalance in the field.