This book challenges basic concepts that have informed the study of sociolinguistics. It proposes a critical poststructuralist perspective that examines the socio-historical context that led to the emergence of dominant sociolinguistic concepts and develops new theoretical and methodological tools that challenge these dominant concepts.

Introduction: Language and Society: A critical poststructuralist perspective (Ofelia García, Nelson Flores, Max Spotti) 1. Language and society: Historical overview and emergence of a field of study (Florian Coulmas) 2. Language, imperialism and the modern nation-state system: Implications for language rights (Stephen May) 3. Language and political economy (Alfonso Del Percio, Mi-Cha Flubacher & Alex Duchene) 4. Language and power (Luisa Martín-Rojo) 5. Language ideologies (Jonathan Rosa & Christa Burdick) 6. Language policy and local practices (Alastair Pennycook) 7. Language, migration, diaspora: Challenging the big battalions of groupism (Finex Ndhlovu) 8. Bi-multilingualism, globalization and super-diversity: Toward Sociolinguistic repertoire (Max Spotti & Jan Blommaert) 9. Diglossia and beyond (Jürgen Jaspers) 10. Language shift and sustainability: Critical discourses and beyond (Melissa Engman & Kendall King) 11. Discourses of endangerment from mother tongues to machine readability (Robert Moore) 12. Sign languages (H-Dirksen L. Bauman & Joseph Murray) 13. Multiliteracies & Transcultural Education (Lynn Mario Menezes de Souza) 14. Urban languages in African Contexts: Toward a multimodal approach to urban languages (Busi Makoni) 15. Indigenous peoples and their languages (Pia Lane & Miki Makihara) 16. Entry Visa Denied: The Construction of Symbolic Language Borders in Educational Settings (Guadalupe Valdés) 17. Linguistic profiling and discrimination (John Baugh) 18. From Gerontolinguistics to Elderspeak: Sociolinguistic myths (Sinfree Makoni) 19. Language and racialization (Anne Charity Hudley) 20. Language and sexuality (Tomasso Milani) 21. Linguistic landscapes (Luk Van Mensel, Mieke Vandenbrouke & Robert Blackwood) 22. Multimodality (Elisabetta Adami) 23. The Internet, language and virtual interactions (Piia Varis and Tom van Neunen) 24. Mediatization and the language of journalism (Tom Van Hout & Peter Burger) 25. Work (Melissa Moyer) 26. Bilingual Education (Nelson Flores) Conclusion: Moving the study of Language and Society into the future (Nelson Flores, Max Spotti and Ofelia García)

This collection of chapters revolutionizes the field not only through difficult conversations, but also by "leveling the playing field" by including contributions from established scholars, post-doctoral scholars, and advanced graduate students alike. Additionally, this work never allows the reader to forget about the inherent interrelatedness of people and their language usage, something often lost in otherwise more abstract linguistic texts.

"This collection of chapters revolutionizes the field not only through difficult conversations, but also by "leveling the playing field" by including contributions from established scholars, post-doctoral scholars, and advanced graduate students alike. Additionally, this work never allows the reader to forget about the inherent interrelatedness of people and their language usage, something often lost in otherwise more abstract linguistic texts." -- Troy E Spier, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, LINGUIST List

Ofelia García is Professor Emerita in the Ph.D. programs in Urban Education and Latin American, Iberian and Latino Cultures at The Graduate Center of The City University of New York. She has published widely in the areas of sociology of language, multilingualism, and bilingual education. She is the General Editor of The International Journal of the Sociology of Language, and co-editor of Language Policy. Nelson Flores is Associate Professor in the Educational Linguistics Division at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education. His research involves the study of the historical and contemporary instantiation of raciolinguistic ideologies, where language and race are co-constructed in ways that marginalize racialized communities. He has published his work in numerous peer-review journals including Harvard Educational Review, TESOL Quarterly and International Journal of the Sociology of Language. Massimiliano Spotti is Assistant Professor at the Department of Cultural Studies at Tilburg University, The Netherlands. He is also deputy director of Babylon - Centre for the Study of Superdiversity at the same institution. His research tackles the theme of asylum seeking and identity construction through the analysis of social media influence on the doings of asylum seekers. He has published his work in several peer-reviewed journals including Linguistics and Education, Diversities, Journal of Language, Identity and Education, and Applied Linguistics Review as well as co-editor of the Volume Language and Superdiversity (Routledge 2016).

Selling point: Challenges basic concepts that have informed the study of sociolinguistics Selling point: Proposes a critical poststructuralist perspective that examines the socio-historical context that led to the emergence of dominant sociolinguistic concepts and develops new theoretical and methodological tools that challenge these dominant concepts Selling point: Reveals the limits of conventional approaches to sociolinguistics and offer a glimpse into directions for the future of the field