Language Investment and Employability - The Uneven Distribution of Resources in the Public Employment Service

This book provides a unique insight into negotiations around language investment for employability in the context of public employment services. Drawing on extensive ethnographical research carried out in Regional Employment Offices in Switzerland, the authors follow the stories of various job seekers. In doing so, they challenge the currently dominant assumption that investment in language competences leads to better employability. Arguing for a political economic perspective on these issues, this book will be of interest to anyone concerned with the connections between language and social inequality, as well as students and scholars of sociolinguistics and applied linguistics. 

List of contents

Preface.- Chapter 1. Language investment and employability: an introduction.- Chapter 2. The politics of investment and employability in the public employment service.- Chapter 3. The logic of return on language investment in the allocation of resources for employability.- Chapter 4. The uneven recognition of language investment for employability.- Chapter 5. Concluding considerations about language investment and employability from a political economic perspective.

Product details

• Authors: Renata Coray, Alexandre Duchêne, Mi-Cha Flubacher
• Publisher: Springer, Berlin
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 28.09.2017
• EAN: 9783319608723
• ISBN: 978-3-31-960872-3
• No. of pages: 119
• Dimensions: 152 mm x 218 mm x 11 mm
• Weight: 275 g
• Illustrations: XV, 119 p.
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative linguistics; C, Human Resource Management, Economics, Berufsberatung, Careers, Sociolinguistics, Social Sciences, Social & cultural anthropology, Ethnography, Multilingualism, Applied Linguistics, Language: reference & general, Sociology: work & labour, Sociology of Work, Industrial sociology, Bilingualism & multilingualism, Careers in Business and Management, Success in business