IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/socres/v3y1998i4p37-53.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Naming the Other: Power, Politeness and the Inflation of Euphemisms

Author

Listed:
  • James Valentine

Abstract

This paper draws on Japanese, British and other material for a comparative analysis of name-calling. Naming the other is a means of identification, helping to establish definitions of self. Definitional power is socially distributed: the power of the mainstream is orchestrated by expert classifications of marginality that disparage others, often in the form of euphemisms. It is argued that the demand for euphemisms is generated by etiquette, modernist ideology and the power of protest. Cases are examined where euphemisms are dispensable or too troublesome, and where conversely it becomes necessary to coin further cultivated euphemisms in an inflationary manner. Euphemisms are disputed in power struggles of linguistic rectitude, involving accusations of political correctness. In terminological conflict, the power of the other to resist, subvert or escape naming must be recognised, yet unequal definitional resources render celebrations of postmodernism premature: dominant designations can effect the containment and denial of being.

Suggested Citation

  • James Valentine, 1998. "Naming the Other: Power, Politeness and the Inflation of Euphemisms," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 3(4), pages 37-53, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:socres:v:3:y:1998:i:4:p:37-53
    DOI: 10.5153/sro.184
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.5153/sro.184
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.5153/sro.184?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Susan Kirk, 2021. "Sticks and Stones: The Naming of Global Talent," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 35(2), pages 203-220, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:socres:v:3:y:1998:i:4:p:37-53. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.