Traditionally, social influence has been defined as the "process whereby attitudes and behaviour are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people' (Hogg and Vaughan, p. 236). Social psychologists have distinguished between three forms of social influence: compliance, conformity and obedience. In this chapter, we review some of the most influential studies in the field, before moving on to consider critical reactions to this area of research, and alternatives proposed by critical social psychologists. In particular, we will suggest that by looking at how people use language we can recast what we understand by social influence.