Discussion 1: The Darwinian ocean

• Published in: Text & talk 2002-09, Vol.22 (3), p.469-485
• Main Author: WEISS, GILBERT
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0165-4888; 1860-7330; 1613-4117; 1860-7349
• DOI: 10.1515/text.2002.018

The contributions in this special, thematic issue of TEXT, presenting linguistic approaches to various aspects of (un)employment, are discussed from the perspective of the European Union's policies of job creation & labor market regulation. It is observed that un/employment is not only an economic or a social problem but also a linguistic one since the level of employment & unemployment rates depends on how the meanings of the terms "employment" & "unemployment" are defined. The contributions also explore the structure of discourse on un/employment in which the semantic level of definitions of such key notions as work, job, employability, high/low skill, or training is of paramount importance. The relevance of discourse analysis to political science engaged with un/employment issues is stressed. The political scientist is interested in what the discourse is about, while the linguist is interested how the discourse functions & which meanings are chosen & constructed: to find out what the discourse is about it is helpful to know how the discourse functions. However, the linguist can also benefit from the political scientist's exploration of the institutional, political, & legal contexts in which the discourse take place. 19 References. Z. Dubiel