How does language affect society?

Answer 1

Language contains traditional values - this is what is implied in the ideas of social conditioning and social learning. In a static society, traditional values are unquestioned. Hence social learning takes the form of social conditioning. Social conditioning is the unquestioned or confused adherence to social norms, and occurs when society is taken to be self-referential. Society is the judge of its own needs.

The only circumstance that normally breaks social conditioning in some degree is change. Therefore in a period of fast social change, chaos occurs as social norms are questioned, altered and perhaps even rejected. New norms are slowly generated. This chaos ensures that society can no longer be regarded as being self-referential.

In this situation of chaos, language is grasped as being self-referential

. Then language is no longer necessarily tied to social reality. In such times, values change as the values within language change and we may witness radical innovation in artistic genres.

For example, the nineteenth century saw the focus on art for art's sake, along with science for science's sake (neither art nor science were to be dependent on values external to themselves, such as social usefulness). Then the problem of grappling with the new possibilities of language produced the dense symbolism of the French poet Mallarme In twentieth-century literary theory the text has become autonomous and self-contained, and/or the reader has acquired total freedom in his interpretation of the text.

Answer 2

Language shapes communication and social interactions, influencing how ideas are shared and understood within society. It reflects cultural values, norms, and power dynamics, impacting how individuals perceive themselves and others. Language can also serve as a tool for social cohesion or exclusion, with certain languages carrying social status or privilege.

Answer 3

Language has a huge impact on how society's members communicate with each other. Without language members of society could not efficiently tell others what they want or need.