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Relational Power from Switching across Netdoms through Reflexive and Indexical Language

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Applying Relational Sociology

Abstract

We argue from a relational perspective that the reflexive and indexical dimensions of language are critical to understand “relations” formation in contemporary life. These dimensions are fundamental in the production of meaning ambiguity characteristic of social relations in highly differentiated and post-industrial orders. Moreover, as we show below, we also argue that language’s reflexive and indexical dimensions—far from producing consensual achievements—are unequally deployed and circulate unevenly among networks of relations, leading to various types of control and power mechanisms.

This essay is a modified version of the original article published in the journal REDES (2010, 18, pp. 326–349).

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Authors
  1. Jorge Fontdevila
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  2. Harrison C. White
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François Dépelteau Christopher Powell

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© 2013 François Dépelteau and Christopher Powell

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Fontdevila, J., White, H.C. (2013). Relational Power from Switching across Netdoms through Reflexive and Indexical Language. In: Dépelteau, F., Powell, C. (eds) Applying Relational Sociology. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137407009_7

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