This exciting study draws together research from sociolinguistics, ethnography, anthropology and sociology into a fully up-to-date and cohesive analysis of professional discourse. It covers the theoretical issues of how language, written genres and spoken discourse are constructed from an interplay between linguistic and social realities, and provides historical, social and linguistic perspectives. Topics include: the moral construction of discourse in social care professions, the discourse of dispute negotiation, narrative accounts in clinical research, Doctor-patient interaction, legal discourse, and institutional discourse.