Acknowledgements
Introduction
Moral talk: forms, functions and value
Emotivism
Moral philosophy and moral talk
Post-crisis Britain, the moral economy and moral panic
Outline of the book
The social, ethical and political lives of language
Introduction
Social life of language
Michael Meacher's speech
Ethical life of language
Political life of language
Conclusion
Form: what counts as moral talk?
Introduction
Stance, evaluation and moral talk
Quotability
Specificity
Determinacy
Checklist
Conclusion
Function: what does moral talk do?
Introduction
Evaluative language, stance, fact and value
Hobart and the multifunctionality of moral talk
Cotext
Situations and ideologies
Cameron's speech
Eric's call
Conclusion
Moral systems and ethical life
Introduction
Moral systems and ethical life
The linguistic distinction
Moral systems, ethical life and radio phone-ins
Modest moralising
Conclusion
Critiquing moral talk
Introduction
What is critique?
Bias
Power
Illegitimate power
Immanent critique
Moral realism
Veracity
Explanatory critique
Lay normativity
Conclusion
7.? Critiquing interpretation
Introduction
Interpretative agency
Language ideologies
Hymes' ethical sociolinguistics
Emotivism as a corporate technology
Emotivism in political communications
Linguistic expertise and arguments for emotivism
Conclusion
8. Conclusion
Introduction
What is moral talk?
What does moral talk do?
What is moral talk good for?
Methodology: the field, the meta-field, and the armchair
Theory: linguistic interpretivism and moral realism
References
Index
