ABSTRACT
How is literacy linked to power and why do some literacy practices have more influence than others? These are the main questions that I discuss in this chapter. At the same time, I pursue in more detail some of the issues regarding a social practice view of literacy that I introduced previously. I begin with a brief discussion of the social patterning of literacy and the relationship of particular literacy practices to different domains of social and institutional life. I then examine the role of power in relation to reading and writing practices in such domains and contexts.
