POWER AND SOLIDARITY IN SOCIAL INTERACTIONS: A REVIEW OF SELECTED STUDIES

Abstract

Denoting power and creating solidarity in social interactions has always been a target for researchers due to their importance in shaping relations among interlocutors within the same linguistic and cultural community or across different languages and cultures. The present work is a critical review of some of these studies. These studies are divided, according to the type of informants and the languages they investigate, into four types: native informant, non-native informant, mixed informant and cross-cultural studies. The review shows that there are many accounts of power and solidarity within the same native culture using the mother tongue, while studies that target non-native informants, mixed informants or cross-cultural studies are very few. The study recommends more crosscultural studies to be conducted as they give helpful insights for people who use languages other than their native tongues. The same is true about studies that target nonnative and mixed informants which support the fact that all humans try to be polite and friendly, but use different strategies to achieve these goals. The study also recommends that socio-pragmatic studies should rely on quantitative and/or qualitative methods that support personal claims native speakers assume about their mother tongues.