Email Informs Social Structure

The construction of present, western society yields a predominant form of text, email, as an integral communication method. The progression of new media communication methods such as email, informs the role of groups of people within a set of social structures. The study of email in terms of Sociolinguistic Variation, Everyday Culture and Semiotics allows for the construction of prevalent societal discourses to be identified and understood. The historical transition email has made to become an everyday practice, supports the value of this style of communication as an interpretive form of text for current society.

Current western society has adopted email as a mainstream communication method. It enables users to connect via the internet in real time, across a number of varying social contexts. Despite email being a relatively new form of communication, its presence in western society is undeniable. This however has not always been the case, as it is only within recent years that ‘email’ has enforced its role in western society as a functioning text, ultimately reinforcing already existent class distinctions.

Email technology has been in development since as early as 1838, whereby Samuel Morris’ telegraph indicated great possibilities. The progression of the telegraph, to the introduction of the telephone in 1876 by Alexander Graham Bell, was another step toward achieving the email practice. The telephone allowed for long distance messages to be sent and received in near-real time, much like the now, greatly utilised email service. From the 1900’s to the 1950’s saw the inception of the telex, followed by the first fax machines. It wasn’t until the 1960’s and 1970’s that an email system, as we are familiar with today came about. Initially a system designed by the U.S. Department of Defense, it allowed for the transfer of data files from one host machine to another. Bolt Beranek and Newman were programmers who then developed the process of electronic message exchange into a means for sending personal messages in the early 1970’s, marking the very beginning of what was to become, commonplace electronic mailing. At the time of its creation, email was a tool used to combat the breach of transmissions during the height of the Cold War, it is important that as Gadamer states;

“Every age…understand a transmitted text in it’s own way, for the text is part of the whole of the tradition in which the age takes an objective interest in which it seeks to understand itself.”

Though email, once incorporated into the communication traditions of military life alone, has now, three decades on become an integral function of western society.

The constant engagement of email correspondence between members of western society fuels the construction of discourses concerning class. The everyday practice of sending and receiving emails instills communicable, societal hierarchies. By participating in consistent communication via electronic mail it no longer establishes ones position in relation to the sender, but works to reinforce that position with each email read, composed and then sent. Zivancevic puts forth the notion that

“Literariness is not an inherent feature of the text but is determined by the text’s cultural role within a specific society and the reader’s perception of it.”

When read as an everyday practice; the role email plays in society serves to support already dominant discourses of class, with the everyday practice of email portraying the engagement of societal hierarchies of present day. The cultural role of email as a functioning text of the everyday leads one to further analyse email as a resource for sociolinguistic variation.

The act of emailing as an everyday practice provides linguistic material, that is to say, a style of text that can be seen to serve a social purpose. (para 3, Eckert). By exploring the value of email in terms of its style rather than it’s textual features, allows an understanding to be drawn in relation to members of society and “…the construction of personae.” (Eckert, 2005, para 3). A community or network of people, who engage with email as an everyday practice, can then be defined by this very practice. As a style of text, the everyday practice of emailing is a process by which individuals construct their identity in their relative social context. The stylised features of email such as varying levels of formality associated with structure along with email signatures that feature professional positions held, enforce, in particular, member categorisation by socioeconomic class. As Eckert puts it

“…this practice involves the construction of a shared orientation to the world around them – a tacit definition of themselves in relation to each other.”

The process of electronic mail can lead one to deduce a socioeconomic class discourse, which stems from its identification as an everyday practice, through to the texts analysis in terms of sociolinguistic variation and further more by specific signifiers contained in the email text.

The affirmation of socioeconomic class in present society can be linked to the engagement with electronic mail and certain semiotic elements. The semantic function of textual features within email is reinforced each time an email is read, composed and sent. Signifiers that support the socioeconomic class discourse are diction which derives tone, and in particular the act of CC’ing (carbon copying) and BCC’ing (blind carbon copying) of emails. An example of how diction can signify tone and levels of formality is the way in which one can choose to end an email. By ending an email with ‘kind regards’ informs a professional reading, whereas colloquial language such as ‘cheers’ or ‘thanks’ suggests familiarity or alternatively an abbreviation; ‘TTYL’ (talk to you later) indicates a deeper, unprofessional relationship. Another way to interpret signs found in emails is through the act of carbon copying. Carbon copying takes two forms; an email sender can choose to CC other email recipients or Blind CC further recipients. The purpose of CC’ing is to allow information that may be useful but not be directly related to persons to be read, whereas blind CC’ing is more commonly used in professional environments to allow superiors to monitor their staffs’ communications. As with each signifier identified; their relationship in the construction of a socioeconomic class discourse

“Tends to exercise a set of pressures, a power of constraint on other forms of discourse.” (Foucault).

The progression of history continues to challenge social scenarios and hierarchies, whilst the transition of everyday practices also changes in order to more closely reflect social structures and the personae of its time.

The application of cultural theories to texts that serve an integral role within a period of time, allow for its social structures to be explored. Foucault expounds that by deconstructing a form of text, a more complete understanding of a societies structure can be ascertained. An analysis of email as an everyday practice can be further investigated through Sociolinguistic Variation, Discourses and Semiotics to produce an understanding of its contextual role in determining current culture. The current everyday practice of Email, informs the socioeconomic class by which western society is seen to participate in and engage with.