Is reading simply a matter of neutral information processing or functional skills? This article draws on historical and contemporary perspectives to make the case that reading is a malleable social practice with identifiable moral and ideological consequences. It builds a four-tiered model that defines reading in contemporary social life in terms of four interconnected roles: coding, semantic, pragmatic, and critical. Critical reading—an awareness of and facility with the techniques by which texts and discourses construct and position human subjects and social reality—is an essential component of everyday life in social institutions. This is illustrated through text analyses of three “functional” texts: a textbook passage, a tenancy agreement, and a job application.
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