This book explores key areas of modern society in which language is used to form power and social relations. These are presented in five sections: Language and the Media Language and Organisations Language and Gender Language and Youth Multilingualism, Identity and Ethnicity With a unique combination of selected readings and student-centred tasks in a single volume, the book covers contemporary issues in language and power, ranging from the global to the interpersonal. Each area - and each reading chosen to explore it - is substantially contextualised and discussed through a detailed introduction and then followed up with related activities. Each section comprises: *a substantial, specific introduction which draws students' attention to key themes and issues relevant to its topic; *a set of four or five selected readings which encourages students to locate critically these issues in context; *a task, or set of tasks, obliging students to undertake 'hands-on' linguistic analysis of data and engage in more sophisticated discussion of pertinent issues. *In-depth exploration of a variety of approaches to the study of language and power *Unique combination of advanced readings, student-centred tasks and editorial guidance *Hands-on activities at the end of each chapter