Starting with the assumption that “discourse is implicated in creating marketisation,” the objective of this work is to examine “the transfer of business discourse to other domains” (1). The author emphasizes the reciprocal influences between market society and language. “The language of the market is now so fully integrated into everyday text and talk” that this kind of discourse has been “naturalised” (2). The work is divided into three sections. The first part deals with the conceptual and theoretical framework. The world of business represents “an overarching cultural model” (18) and regulates cultural and linguistic behaviors in many social domains of public and private life. The author's attention is focused on the economic logic and the managerialism related to discourse; in particular she examines the relationship between business and other social subsystems in terms of power, dominance, and mutual impact. She also analyzes the social groups that drive the diffusion of market discourse, the vehicles used to import new linguistic choices into other domains, and how the relevant discursive practices get reinforced.

The second part, comprising the empirical chapters, discusses the processes of language marketization in four social domains. Ch. 4 concerns marketization in the public sector of institutions. Speakers are considered as customers and the linguistic analysis is based on logos. Transit advertising and job advertisements belong, for example, to governmental institutions. Their lexicon is commonly inspired by the business domain, as in “customer-focused services,” “vision statements,” “service providers,” or “efficiency target.” Current job advertisements are compared with ones published thirty years ago and the results show, for example, an increased personalization through the use of you and we in order to create self confidence. The domain of higher education (Ch. 5) has been fully marketized because of the competition among universities, sponsorship from the private sector, and the adoption of commercial strategies for publicizing their scientific discoveries. Universities consolidate market-driven behaviors and discourse through expressions like “mission statements,” “annual reports,” and “appraisal interviews” and a managerial lexicon. Even the church (Ch. 6) seems to be market-oriented. Hybrid discourses can be found in religious genres and media like journals, blogs, and advertisements, as well as internet and physical spaces like church cafés or church shops. In the domain of personal sphere (Ch. 7), market discourse is characterized by the use of hyperboles, metaphors, colloquialisms, and reductions. Furthermore, elements belonging to the personal domain and to the business one are discursively constructed in the same way.

In the third section the author makes some concluding remarks and introduces new perspectives in the study of the market discourse phenomenon. She points out that social and discursive practices should be separated from the logic of business, marketing, and branding. The book is well structured and gives appropriate information, evidence, and reflection, fulfilling its explicit purpose: “to encourage academics, and social actors generally, to question and resist the businessification of discourses outside business” (181).