‘Not all applied linguists agree they are social scientists, but this detailed and wide-ranging book should persuade them of the risks of ignoring the sociological tradition, for it is full of detailed examples of theory and practice, carefully examined from both linguistic and sociological perspectives.’Professor Christopher Brumfit, University of SouthamptonApplied Linguistics as Social Science surveys the increasing dialogue between linguistics and social theory. The book shows how social theory, applied linguistics and sociolinguistics share a set of common concerns, and how an analysis of these to produce a social scientific account of applied linguistics helps to explain the interaction between social structures, human agents and language. The authors present a detailed discussion of questions and topics which are of concern to applied linguists, without losing sight of what is distinctive about language and not reducible to any other dimension of the social world. In so doing, the book presents the first persuasive argument for regarding the discipline of applied linguistics as a social science.