Writing Power

Associated with 'gleaming spires' and 'ivory towers', academia has often been seen as a space for social and cultural elites where the knowledge produced is disconnected from, if not outright disdainful of, the 'real world'.

This book explores the forms of power that shape academic knowledge production. Looking specifically at the case of British sociology, and doing so through its modes, styles, and everyday practices of writing, the book examines how certain forms of writing are deployed to assert intellectual legitimacy and claim an elevated rung on the knowledge hierarchy. It offers a rich and personal ethnographic examination of the structural, intellectual, and affective factors which shape the way sociologists write and the knowledge they produce.

Writing power details how academics and intellectuals engage with the politics of writing in order to position themselves within the politics of knowledge. The book argues for a more textured approach to understanding power relations in the field of knowledge production through its demonstrations of how scholars use their writing and writing practices to narrate themselves into legitimacy and position themselves with value in both disciplinary and wider intellectual spaces.