Identity and Status in the Translational Professions

This volume contributes to the emerging research on the social formation of translators and interpreters as specific occupational groups. Despite the rising academic interest in sociological perspectives in Translation Studies, relatively little research has so far been devoted to translators’ social background, status struggles and sense of self. The articles assembled here zoom in on the “groups of individuals” who perform the complex translating and/or interpreting tasks, thereby creating their own space of cultural production. Cutting across varied translatorial and geographical arenas, they reflect a view of the interrelatedness between the macro-level question of professional status and micro-level aspects of practitioners’ identity. Addressing central theoretical issues relating to translators’ habitus and role perception, as well as methodological challenges of using qualitative and quantitative measures, this endeavor also contributes to the critical discourse on translators’ agency and ethics and to questions of reformulating their social role.The contributions to this volume were originally published in Translation and Interpreting Studies 4:2 (2009) and 5:1 (2010).

Gisella M. Vorderobermeier, University of Graz, Target 26:2 (2014):
The contributions in this carefully edited and eminently readable volume
(with an excellent and useful index) present a wealth of empirical
material as well as a great deal of stimulating conceptual work. The
volume is indispensable
reading for Translation Studies scholars interested in the sociology of
professions and it offers a number of insights with respect to the
sociology of translation in general. It is, moreover, highly recommended
to anyone trying to keep up with
the not-so-mechanic mechanisms and driving forces underlying
differentiation processes within our field of study and the “effets de
théorie” (Bourdieu 1981) informing them.