Within this perspective, the ideas that individuals and groups have about language and linguistic practices are understood as expressions of different views of society and social organization.

Based on ethnographic investigation, Woolard analyzes the place of authority and authenticity in people's understanding of language and social order, particularly as these concepts are understood in Catalonia related to changes in the national language project and the status of Catalan and Castilian in contemporary Catalonia after thirty years of political autonomy within Spain.

Through a range of case studies, Woolard demonstrates the changes in Catalan linguistic practices, identities, and ideology.

Woolard calls for linguistic anthropologists to recognize the polarization of language ideology, nationalism, and cosmopolitanism in relation to Catalonian politics.

She argues that Catalan speakers are shifting towards innovative linguistic practices that differ from the naturalistic ideologies.