Written Communication Jan 2009

Positioned by Reading and Writing: Literacy Practices, Roles, and Genres in Common Occupations

Anna-Malin Karlsson Södertörn University

Abstract

In the research project Literacy Practices in Working Life, the role played by reading and writing in common nonacademic occupations in Sweden was investigated. The results highlight not only some typical ways of using writing to frame units of work but also differences reflecting the main focus of work (“people” or “things”) and overall organizing principles. This article deals with patterns in the use of writing, which may be related to modern ways of organizing work (efficiency and flexibility, personal responsibility, identification with the company, etc.). Case studies show a range of literacy practices—running from extensive and rather complicated uses of writing connected with individual responsibility to very restricted and dependent uses of reading and writing governed by a top-down organization. Examples illustrate how emerging ways of governing work through written discourse, related to the new, knowledge-based work order, create very different roles for workers.

Journal
Written Communication
Published
2009-01-01
DOI
10.1177/0741088308327445
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Open Access
Closed
Topics
modern rhetorical theory discourse analysis literacy studies community literacy
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (6)

  1. Spinuzzi (2023)
    What Is a Workplace? Principles for Bounding Case Studies of Genres, Processes,…
    Written Communication
  2. Nissi et al. (2022)
    Digital Documenting Practices: Collaborative Writing in Workplace Training
    Written Communication
  3. Blikstad-Balas et al. (2018)
    Opportunities to Write: An Exploration of Student Writing During Language Arts …
    Written Communication
  4. Karlsson et al. (2016)
    The Textualization of Problem Handling: Lean Discourses Meet Professional Compe…
    Written Communication
  5. Spinuzzi (2011)
    Losing by Expanding: Corralling the Runaway Object
    Journal of Business and Technical Communication
Show all 6 →
  1. Cohen et al. (2011)
    A Time Use Diary Study of Adult Everyday Writing Behavior
    Written Communication

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CrossRef global citation count: 26 View in citation network → Build reading path →

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