ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the key theoretical concepts used in the book and reviews the relevant literature. This chapter first introduces the key concept of ideology in terms of its provenance, major strands of conceptualisation (from an interdisciplinary perspective), and van Dijk’s socio-cognitive perspective that links language use to ideology and the social context. This chapter then provides a discussion of interpreters’ ideological positioning from the socio-cognitive perspective. These discussions lead to the literature review of relevant studies that are germane to ideological issues in interpreting studies. The review covers the negative and non-pejorative perspectives of ideology regarding interpreters’ ideological intervention, relevant discursive events, and the research methods that have been used in existing studies. This chapter highlights that existing studies have culminated in an ‘ideological turn’ in conference interpreting research.
