Edexcel A-level English Language (9EN0) · Investigating Language: Language and Power
Mini-Lesson
Investigating Language: Language and Power
Language is a tool of power. This topic explains the kinds of power language enacts, how it is imposed and how it persuades, using Fairclough and other theorists.
You will meet instrumental and influential power, Wareing's power types, synthetic personalisation and unequal encounters. Press Start.
Power · Fairclough
Instrumental and influential power
Norman Fairclough distinguishes two broad kinds of power in language:
Instrumental power — authority built into a role and enforced directly (law, government, workplace, teacher).
Influential power — power that persuades and shapes attitudes rather than commands (advertising, media, politics).
Attribute: instrumental vs influential power is Fairclough's distinction.
Quick check
Which kind of power?
?A courtroom notice states You must attend or face arrest. This power is built into the institution and enforced directly, so it is:
Power · Wareing
Wareing's types of power
Shan Wareing identifies three types of power:
Political power — held by those with legal or state authority (law, government, police).
Personal power — power from an individual's role or occupation (a manager, a teacher).
Social group power — power held by a group because of social factors such as class, gender or ethnicity.
Attribute: these three power types are Wareing's. Use them to classify who holds power in a text.
Quick check
Which type (Wareing)?
?A manager gives instructions to staff because of her position in the company. In Wareing's terms, this is:
Power · persuasion
How influential power works
Influential power relies on persuasive language:
Synthetic personalisation (Fairclough) — addressing a mass audience as an individual (you).
Rhetoric — imperatives, rhetorical questions, emotive lexis, and the power of naming.
Presupposition: texts can build in assumptions the reader is pushed to accept without question.
Sort it
Sort each feature to what it enacts
Tap a feature, then tap what it most enacts.
🏛️ Instrumental power
📣 Influential power
🗣️ Discoursal control
Power · unequal encounters
Unequal encounters and face
In an unequal encounter one participant has more power and controls the interaction:
The powerful speaker often controls topics, turn allocation and questions (doctor-patient, teacher-pupil, interview).
Brown & Levinson's politeness and face explain how power is softened or asserted through face-threatening acts and mitigation.
Grice's maxims help analyse how the less powerful speaker is constrained.
Analysis tip: track who asks, who answers and who controls the topic to reveal the power balance.
Quick check
Analyse the strategy
?A bank text reads Hi Alex, we have chosen these offers just for you, though it was sent to millions. This strategy of exercising influential power is:
Match it
Match theorist or term to its meaning
Tap an item on the left, then its meaning on the right.
Item
Meaning
Recap
The big ideas to take away
Fairclough: instrumental (enforced) vs influential (persuasive) power
Wareing: political, personal and social group power