Bureaucratic language in government and business

• Main Author: Shuy, Roger W. (Author)
• Format: Unknown
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, D.C. Georgetown University Press 1998
• Subjects: Bureaucracy > Language; Bureaucracy > Language > United States
• Online Access: Click Here to View Status and Holdings.
• Physical Description: xv, 190 pages illustrations 24 cm
• Bibliography: Includes bibliographical references (p. 185-186) and index
• ISBN: 9780878406968 (alk. paper); 0878406964 (alk. paper); 9780878406975 (pbk. : alk. paper); 0878406972 (pbk. : alk. paper)

Drawing on documents cited in class action lawsuits brought against the Social Security Administration and Medicare, Shuy offers a detailed linguistic analysis of these agencies' problems with written and oral communication, and he outlines a training program he developed for government writers to solve them. Moving on to the private sector, Shuy analyzes examples of the ways that businesses such as car dealerships, real estate and insurance companies, and commercial manufacturers sometimes fail to communicate effectively. Although typically bureaucracies change their use of language only when a lawsuit threatens, Shuy argues that clarity in communication is a cost effective strategy for preventing or at least reducing litigation.