Language Policy & Identity in the U.S.
Published on 14. April 2000
Book
Paperback/Softback
296 pages
978-1-56639-755-1 (ISBN)
Description
Well over thirty million people in the United States speak a primary language other than English. Nearly twenty million of them speak Spanish. And these numbers are growing. Critics of immigration and multiculturalism argue that recent government language policies such as bilingual education, non-English election materials, and social service and workplace \u0022language rights\u0022 threaten the national character of the United States. Proponents of bilingualism, on the other hand, maintain that, far from being a threat, these language policies and programs provide an opportunity to right old wrongs and make the United States a more democratic society. This book lays out the two approaches to language policy -- linguistic assimilation and linguistic pluralism -- in clear and accessible terms. Filled with examples and narratives, it provides a readable overview of the U.S. \u0022culture wars\u0022 and explains why the conflict has just now emerged as a major issue in the United States.
Professor Schmidt examines bilingual education in the public schools, \u0022linguistic access\u0022 rights to public services, and the designation of English as the United States' \u0022official\u0022 language. He illuminates the conflict by describing the comparative, theoretical, and social contexts for the debate. The source of the disagreement, he maintains, is not a disagreement over language per se but over identity and the consequences of identity for individuals, ethnic groups, and the country as a whole. Who are \u0022the American people\u0022? Are we one national group into which newcomers must assimilate? Or are we composed of many cultural communities, each of which is a unique but integral part of the national fabric? This fundamental point is what underlies the specific disputes over language policy. This way of looking at identity politics, as Professor Schmidt shows, calls into question the dichotomy between \u0022material interest\u0022 politics and \u0022symbolic\u0022 politics in relation to group identities.
Not limited to describing the nature and context of the language debate, Language Policy and Identity Politics in the United States reaches the conclusion that a policy of linguistic pluralism, coupled with an immigrant settlement policy and egalitarian economic reforms, will best meet the aims of justice and the common good. Only by attacking both the symbolic and material effects of racialization will the United States be able to attain the goals of social equality and national harmony.
Professor Schmidt examines bilingual education in the public schools, \u0022linguistic access\u0022 rights to public services, and the designation of English as the United States' \u0022official\u0022 language. He illuminates the conflict by describing the comparative, theoretical, and social contexts for the debate. The source of the disagreement, he maintains, is not a disagreement over language per se but over identity and the consequences of identity for individuals, ethnic groups, and the country as a whole. Who are \u0022the American people\u0022? Are we one national group into which newcomers must assimilate? Or are we composed of many cultural communities, each of which is a unique but integral part of the national fabric? This fundamental point is what underlies the specific disputes over language policy. This way of looking at identity politics, as Professor Schmidt shows, calls into question the dichotomy between \u0022material interest\u0022 politics and \u0022symbolic\u0022 politics in relation to group identities.
Not limited to describing the nature and context of the language debate, Language Policy and Identity Politics in the United States reaches the conclusion that a policy of linguistic pluralism, coupled with an immigrant settlement policy and egalitarian economic reforms, will best meet the aims of justice and the common good. Only by attacking both the symbolic and material effects of racialization will the United States be able to attain the goals of social equality and national harmony.
Reviews / Votes
"Finally, a study that is at one and the same time understandable and scholarly, factual and ethical, pluralist and integrationist, and sensitive to the often disregarded overlap between class, race and ethnicity, a study that sympathetically examines all sides of the American language policy issue and finds that these sides can and should come together productively, so that both pluribus and unum will obtain." -Joshua A. Fishman, Ph.D., editor of Language and Ethnic Identity, Oxford University Press "In Language Policy and Identity Politics in the United States, Schmidt provides an innovative approach to considering how issues of education, linguistic access to political and civil rights, and English as the official language are centrally tied to understandings of national identity." -Luis Fraga, Associate Professor of Political Science, Stanford University "This book is a major contribution to an understanding of language conflicts. It shows in a very insightful way that, beyond the controversies over specific issues and policies, such conflicts involve confrontations between socio-political values and diagnoses of the implications of ethno-linguistic diversity for the social order. Schmidt's analysis also makes sense of an enigma: Why is language a source of conflict in a society in which the national language is clearly not threatened?" -Raymond Breton, Professor Emeritus, University of Toronto "Professor Schmidt's thought-provoking and insightful book offers a significant contribution to our critical understanding of language concerns and identity politics, not simply as primordial attachments, but as important initiatives towards the redefinition and reconstruction of society itself. In the process, he compels our respectful recognition of the varied and valuable ways of being human in the world." -Dr. Maulana Karenga, Professor and Chair, Department of Black Studies, California State University, Long Beach and author of Odu Ifa: The Ethical Teachings "Moving beyond analysis to specific plans, [Schmidt] provides us with our national agenda for the new millennium. He enables us to see the dawning of identity politics as a high priority in our new political understanding of the United States." -David F. Marshall, Professor of English, Linguistics, and Peace Studies, University of North Dakota "[A] comprehensive examination of American language policy debates." -Journal of Politics "This comprehensive and carefully researched book fills a void in the literature in this area; it provides a balanced overview of the issues to identity politics. Insightful and challenging, it constitutes a significant contribution to the language policy debate." -Journal of International Migration and IntegrationMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Philadelphia PA
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 153 mm
Thickness: 19 mm
Weight
404 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-56639-755-1 (9781566397551)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Previous edition
Ron Schmidt
Language Policy And Identity In The U.S.
Book
04/2000
Temple University Press,U.S.
€104.18
Article exhausted; check for reprint
Person
Ronald Schmidt, Sr., is Professor of Political Science at California State University, Long Beach.
Content
CONTENTS Acknowledgments Introduction: A Politics of Language in the United States? I. The Issues and the Context 1. Language Policies in Conflict: An Overview 2. Making Sense of Language Policy Conflict 3. The Social Foundations of U.S. Language Policies II. The Arguments 4. Historical Perspectives on U.S. Identity Politics and Ethnolinguistic Inequality 5. Language Policy and Equality: The Search for Justice 6. Language Policy and National Unity: The Search for the Common Good III. Critique and Reform 7. Flaws at Every Turn: A Critique of Assimilationist, Pluralist, and Confederationist Alternatives 8. Pluralistic Integration: Toward Greater Justice and a More Common Good Notes References Index