Providing a state-of-the-art overview of critical sociolinguistics, this volume traces the formation and advancement of the field. Key academic figures from around the world explore the main concepts within critical sociolinguistics, examining the work of Monica Heller and offering insights into the politics that surrounds knowledge of language and society.

Presenting the most prominent theoretical and methodological concepts influencing the constitution of critical sociolinguistics as an academic field, the book explores its historical development and examines 'how' and why' specific questions about language were asked by particular scholars around the world at different moments in time. Each chapter offers a different social and theoretical perspective on the history of the field and provides a detailed reflection on how critical sociolinguistics has acted as a discipline. This includes consideration of the way it has codified language as an object of study, the foregrounding of some scholars over others, and an evaluation of the power relations and dynamics of inequality that have led to the constitution of this important field.