Since its emergence in the early 1960s, language policy and planning (LPP) has mostly developed within sociolinguistics. At first, it was strongly anchored in actual language policy challenges (e.g. in the context of decolonization). However, in the following decades, mainstream sociolinguistics has moved away from classical language policy questions and towards ethnographic approaches on the one hand, and “critical sociolinguistics” on the other hand. Concomitantly, it has de-emphasized macro-level questions about societal and political choices in language matters. This has undermined the policy relevance of mainstream sociolinguistics and its applications to LPP.
In parallel, novel approaches to LPP have been taking shape with leading inputs from the social sciences, particularly political science and economics. In sharp contrast with the Oxford Handbook of Language Policy and Planning, which distillates the recurring themes of critical sociolinguistics, the Routledge Handbook of LPP foregrounds a public policy approach while, at the same time, stressing the need for a truly interdisciplinary perspective on LPP challenges, where policy analysis can provide a framework for operationalizing the complementarity between various disciplinary inputs.
This evolution raises several questions: are the social sciences progressively displacing sociolinguistics as the main repository of tools and methods for the selection, design and evaluation of language policies? If this trend does exist, what are its epistemological and political implications? Relatedly, do social scientists bear a particular ethical and scientific responsibility to develop their methods and their application to LPP, in order to contribute to the formulation of efficient and fair language policies? Do classical policy analysis frameworks and their application to language such as the “language policy cycle” provide a sound framework for a new generation of researchers in LPP? More generally, might LPP be affected by the transformation and crisis of democratic politics that has being going on for several decades? These are the questions that this panel is intended to discuss.