Linguistic Sociology

by Pierre Bourdieu and John Austin

Linguistic Sociology and Sociological Epistemology (1970s-1990s)

In the fourth stage, sociologists like Pierre Bourdieu and John Austin viewed language as a key element in creating social reality. In his book Representation of the World in Language (1977), Bourdieu wrote:

“Language does not merely describe the world; it constructs it.”

Sociological epistemology asserts that the object of knowledge is created by the language that describes it. The object of study, therefore, is not an immediate part of reality but rather an interpretation within a conceptual framework. The linguistic turn in sociology shifts the focus from a direct link between statements and objects to the analysis of relationships within language. Sociology is seen as a system of languages, where scientific judgments are evaluated by their coherence with other judgments within the given linguistic structure.

sociology epistemology language