Discursive Strategies Research Articles

I get Worried with This...Constitutionality by Statistics: A Critical Analysis of Discourse, Framing, and Discursive Strategies to Navigate Uncertainties in the Argersinger Oral Arguments

I get Worried with This...Constitutionality by Statistics: A Critical Analysis of Discourse, Framing, and Discursive Strategies to Navigate Uncertainties in the Argersinger Oral Arguments

A critical discourse analysis of the representation of Ukrainian refugees across the British mainstream news media

This research investigates the dominant rhetorical/ discursive strategies in the British mainstream news media regarding their reports on Ukrainian refugees in the United Kingdom (UK). While news media have negatively constructed the non-European refugees, as previous studies have revealed, this research is unique because it specifically focuses on European refugees as its research sample. The ultimate objective was to demonstrate how the news media in the UK portrayed the incoming Ukrainian refugees on British soil. The data were 40 Ukrainian-refugee-related news reports published in four mainstream news media in the UK from March until July 2022. The data was then analysed by using Wodak’s Discourse-Historical Approach (DHA), consisting of six analytical categories: Referential, Predication, Argumentation (Topoi), Perspectivisation, Mitigation, and Intensification (Reisigl Wodak, 2008). The research found that regardless of their ideologies, all four news media consistently employed the discursive strategies of humanization and individualization and pervasively established a positive argumentative strategy on Ukrainian refugees. These dominant strategies depict a positive representation of Ukrainian refugees. Moreover, despite the overall negative picture of third-world refugees in British news media, the finding of this research is distinctive from the previous ones, showing that the British news media actively constructed the Ukrainian refugees positively and sympathetically. It is argued that the news media’s ideological stance of Eurocentrism and biased racial values played a decisive role in framing the pictures of European/Ukrainian and non-European refugees in their reports.

Ubóstwo w neoliberalnej opowieści podręcznika językowego

This article presents the results of the critical analysis of English language textbooks. The research was focused on the textbook images of poverty to show possible contributions of educational materials to promoting a neoliberal system. The research methodology was based on content analysis realized with ATLAS.ti 7 qualitative data coding program, and Critical Discourse Analysis allowing for the analysis of discursive strategies at thematic, grammatical, lexical, and compositional levels. The analysis of the texts showed clear tendencies regarding the presentation of the problem of poverty, with privatizing responsibility for its causes and effects, marginalizing systemic solutions, a high degree of generality, objectifying people affected by poverty and presenting the issue in an optimistic light. The textbook message fits into the neoliberal story of equal opportunities for every human being, at the same time trivializing the analyzed problem and limiting the possibility of reflection on the systemic contexts of poverty.

When women’s empowerment meets health communication: a critical discourse analysis of the WeChat official account “Health China”

Abstract Prior studies have widely investigated women’s empowerment in Chinese social media, but women’s empowerment in new media-based health communication has gained insufficient attention. With an aim to empower female health in a new media-based context of China, this study employs a critical discourse analytic approach to study female empowerment in health communication by focusing on 48 articles in Health China. The results of text analysis demonstrate Health China releases an array of themes, including “female genital organs”, “pregnancy”, “women’s mental health”, “cosmetology”, and “general disease”. The findings also indicate that power, intertextuality, and coherence are employed as discursive practices embedded in Chinese women’s empowerment. The study also sketches out the social-cultural factors, like benevolent sexism, the plummet national birth rate, and the traditional Chinese cultural values, as the primary facilitators of Chinese women’s empowerment in health communication. This study contributes to better empowering health discursive strategies for female-related health communication in China and beyond.

La justificación de las condiciones de trabajo y demandas laborales en España: órdenes de valor

In this article, the dominant legitimating discursive strategies around the ever-increasing labour demands and ever-declining standards of safety and well-being at work in Spain are analysed through the lens of Boltanski and Thévenot’s (2006) view of the transformation of capitalism. A qualitative methodology based on semi-structured interviews is used. Results show that the justificatory arguments most commonly put forward by managers and experts are the logic of supply and demand, and values related to flexibility, resilience and adaptability to change. In contrast, the stability and protection established in the twentieth century are widely cherished values, particularly among union representatives and some human resources specialists. We found that discourse practices map two specific legitimating categories (market values and a projects orientation), and one critical category (Civic World), but the critical category has no practical impact, as the predominant feeling is resignation. Our research describes the common attitudes to legitimacy in the job market and points to a deep discontent in some of its key agents.

Discursive delegitimisation of homosexuality on Chinese social media.

This article contributes to the understanding of public representations of homosexuality in China by focusing on the case of a homophobic textbook. College student Xixi sued Jinan University Press (JUP) in 2017 for classifying homosexuality as a psychosexual disorder. Three years later, a Chinese court dismissed Xixi's lawsuit against the allegedly homophobic textbook published by JUP. The ruling elicited responses on Chinese social media that demonstrated the polarisation of public opinion regarding homosexuality. This article investigates discursive representations of homosexuality in online space by analysing the public discourse surrounding this problem. Using van Leeuwen's discursive delegitimation strategies (i.e., authorisation, moral evaluation, rationalisation, and mythopoesis), 496 comments posted on Sina Weibo were employed and subjected to discourse analysis. According to our findings, these strategies contribute to public opposition to homosexuality, portrayed as unhealthy, infertile, disruptive, and corrosive. The article concludes by discussing the emerging sociocultural factors on Sina Weibo that influence the anti-homosexuality attitudes of Weibo users.

The cultural underpinnings of platformization: How social movement organizations helped form the category of the sharing economy

This paper explores the cultural dynamics underpinning platformization by unpacking the emergence of the sharing economy—a vital terrain of platformization—as a culturally significant category. Drawing on online archival data, our study reveals the important role of social movement organizations (SMOs) in establishing the sharing economy as a prominent cultural category and infusing it with powerful social meanings. We outline the discursive strategies used by SMOs to articulate this macro-market category, and to frame platform technology as a benevolent enabler of social change. Our study contributes to platformization research by turning attention to how cultural dynamics (i.e., the discursive strategies giving rise to the emergence of sharing economy) shape platformization. In addition, we contribute to market system dynamic research by expanding the focus of investigation from singular industries to the macro economy level, shedding light on new discursive dynamics (e.g., discursive strategies for articulating and technologizing the emergent economy), and by the extending previous work on the role of SMOs and social movements in market shaping.

Sensegiving doesn't always make sense: framing the implementation of performance-based funding in Ohio

ABSTRACT Organizational sensegiving is a framework that details influencing others in an organization’s process of making meaning of new information. In this study, we examined sensegiving through performance-based funding (PBF) discourse of state actors to Ohio citizens. Utilizing critical discourse analysis, 14 media releases were analyzed, focusing on linguistic construction to examine discursive strategies used by public institution presidents and politicians implementing PBF. This study contributes to the existing literature by exploring how state actors are sensegivers to citizens, stating their responses to implementing PBF. We found two contrasting narratives, the crisis, and collective good narrative, at the core of sensegiving PBF.

Exploring Discursive Strategies of Dark Participation: User Comments on Migration in New York Times and Τhe Guardian

ABSTRACT Digital media have multiplied the range of voices circulating in the public sphere(s), a terrain where journalists enjoyed special communication power. Despite optimism, research has offered mixed findings regarding the outcomes of participatory journalism assuming both constructive and negative interactions. This article draws from, and contributes, to a more nuanced exploration of “dark participation”, a concept broadly used to conceptualise online user contributions that are evil, tactical or strategic. Specifically, the article focuses on user comments in New York Times and the Guardian during the so-called 2015 “refugee crisis”. In addressing descriptive and exploratory research questions, it illustrates how dark participation can include disguised but equally strategic discursive strategies, like disclaimers and “half-truths” which may not always transgress the norms of civility but still tend to manipulate the conversation and normalise stereotyping and exclusion. Moreover, the study provides evidence associating antimigrant discourse with media attacks invoking radical right-wing populist narratives of “leftist” and “hypocritic” media operating as propaganda machines aiming to undermine the media’s integrity and neutralise their editorial position. The (intended) proliferation of antimigrant views and discourses associated with media attacks can be considered as a strategy to discourage inclusive and critical media reporting.

Strategies of Apparent Empathy and Polarization in Kemalistic Discourse

The paper analyzes the discursive strategies of apparent empathy and ideological polarization that were used to legitimize discrimination against covered female students in the Republic of Turkey. We approached this complex social problem from the point of view of critical discourse analysis, which represents an interdisciplinary research area centered on the interest in researching the manipulative use of language. The ban on wearing headscarves in universities in Turkey was the fruit of the Kemalist conception of modernism and hegemony established by the Kemalist elites. An important role in preserving that hegemony was also played by the media, whose primary goal was to legitimize social injustice and protect the social order based on an asymmetric distribution of power. They performed this role of the media through the manipulative use of language within clearly recognizable discursive strategies, which was shown by the analysis of the newspaper text that is the subject of this paper.

Investigating Discursive Gender Representation in Pakistani English Newspaper ‘The Express Tribune’s Headlines: A Critical Discourse Analysis

Researchers have spent a lot of time analysing how western media discursively represent gender roles in their audiences. The purpose of this research is to provide some insight on the current state of affairs regarding the portrayal of women in Pakistani entertainment print media. It seeks to explore the discursive methods for the formation of gender discourse, to analyse the language devices used for maintaining gender inequality, and to determine the socio-cultural consequences of gender discourse in the headlines of Pakistani English newspapers. These goals will be accomplished by looking at the headlines of Pakistani English newspapers. The approach taken in this investigation was qualitative. The information was gathered from the headlines of "The Express Tribune," a newspaper published in English in Pakistan. Applying Van Dijk's CDA model of media text to the analysis of the data that was obtained was done. After analysis, it was found that gendered discourse was constructed by employing discursive strategies like semantic macro structure, local meaning and coherence, global superstructure, social cognition and relation between discourse and society. The findings of analysis also revealed that words were manipulated to create negative image of women in society. The discourse also attempted to propagate feelings of insecurity and gender inequality. The socio-cultural implications of gender inequality may be resulted in economic insecurity, domestic disturbance and imbalance in society. This study may be very helpful for the newspaper readers to understand implications of gender discourse in national English newspapers. It may also motivate future researchers to employ the framework of CDA to explore gender representation in news discourses of distinct socio-cultural significance.

China’s metaphorically “othered” image inThe New York Times(1949-2020)

This study investigates, within the framework of Critical Metaphor Analysis, how The New York Times ( NYT) has been metaphorically formulating China as an “other” from 1949 to 2020. Metaphors were identified with reference to Pragglejaz Group’s (2007) Metaphor Identification Procedure. WAR and GAME were detected as dominant concepts, and LIQUID, DISEASE, ANIMAL, MACHINE, and OBSTACLE secondary imagery. It is found that the newspaper’s journalistic values in foreign news reporting and judging criteria toward political leadership have remained radically unchanged. Having been influenced by changes in China-U.S. relations and America’s domestic socio-political ideals, the NYT has been othering China from the civilized world, which tends to be particularly prominent when China’s performance is short of the values and norms preached by the US, and became inconspicuous during China-U.S. alliance. Running counter to its commitment to “truth,” the newspaper employed discursive strategies to balance between America’s moral self-identity and its China policy, and vindicate behaviors identical to those it has been criticizing China for.

Discursive Strategies of China-Related News in Chinese and Western Social Media

With the development of social media, the landscape of international news dissemination has changed significantly. This research is conducted to discover the discursive strategies of Chinese and Western news outlets in China-related news reports on Twitter, one of the most widely used social media platforms. The key objective is to examine China-related news reports on Twitter to explore the different discursive strategies employed by Chinese and Western news media in reporting China. To achieve these objectives, the research data were collected from the Twitter accounts of People’s Daily China, an official news outlet representing the Chinese media, and the New York Times, a leading American/Western news agency. Based on the data analysis, certain discursive strategies were identified in the practices of Chinese and Western media that are causing differences in constructing China’s international image. These results might assist the international audience in gaining a more objective understanding of China and help Chinese news media sources improve their reporting strategies and international communication capacity.

Defending the nation: The discourse on youth nationalist organizations in the Polish press

The article presents the results of press discourse analysis on selected youth organizations in the context of the celebrations of the centenary of Poland’s independence in 2018. It focuses on two nationalist organizations: the All-Polish Youth (APY) and the National Radical Camp (NRC), which most often appeared in 2018 press materials in the context of Poland’s Independence Day. The analysis covers eight press titles: five dailies and three weeklies. The article tries to answer the following research questions: how are these organizations presented in press discourse; who are their members; what characteristics are attributed to them; how are they assessed and from what perspective analysed discourse is conducted? A qualitative research method was used together with an analysis of the discursive strategies: nomination, predication and perspectivization. The results show that press titles fight for symbolic power over the readers in the same way (using the same discursive strategies), having the same aim (defending the nation), but using different arguments. This battle for power is between the press that is favourable to the ruling party or hostile to it.

"Friends, not food": Depictions of Animals in Vegan Picturebooks

Abstract: Like mainstream children's literature, vegan picturebooks teach children fundamental cultural messaging about food, what (or whom) to eat or not to eat. In doing so, many of these books use some iteration of animals as "friends, not food" to recalibrate the human-animal relationship. Such framing of animals as "friends" or "food" is integral to telling the truth about animal use and consumption by humans, but it can also be problematic because it risks reducing ethical veganism to a dietary practice alone, rather than a holistic philosophy and praxis of animal empowerment. To expose the realities of animal consumption, moreover, some vegan picturebooks include graphic depictions of cruelty to animals, which may not be age-appropriate for younger readers. Informed by critical animal studies (CAS) and vegan studies, this paper analyzes two discursive strategies found in popular vegan picturebooks: encouraging empathy through interspecies similarities ("friends") and foregrounding the impact of what we eat on humans, animals, and the environment ("food"). Vegan picturebooks are selected from recommended lists on vegan blogs, and their popularity is qualitatively analyzed based on reader feedback in online customer reviews. The conclusion reflects on the broader influence of vegan picturebooks on younger readers, provides more context for their focus on animals as food, and considers whether a gentler message of interspecies compassion and an aspirational, rather than identity-based, veganism might be more persuasive in spreading veganism, given its potential to reach vegan allies and other non-vegans.

Colonizers in the neighborhood: a critical discourse analysis of Nextdoor users’ postracial strategies

ABSTRACT Colonizing the neighborhood is more accessible than ever before with digital platforms like Nextdoor. Through a critical discourse analysis of users’ content in West Philadelphia between May 2019 and April 2021, we found that users rarely utilized explicitly racist language or topics. Rather than interpret this as an indication that users do not engage with racializing or colonizing discourses, however, we argue that users relied on three postracial practices [Mukherjee, R., Banet-Weiser, S., & Gray, H. (2019). Racism postrace. Duke University Press] to normalize and obscure their anti-Blackness and settler ideologies in the context of broader sociocultural and political events of racial profiling and crises of care. First, users moved away from ‘objective’ racial categories to nostalgic narratives that shaped ideals of safety and community in exclusive futures. Second, they shied away from problematic but coded language to embed their racializing practices in policy and partisan discussions. Third, despite the changes users made to other discursive strategies, they remained steadfast in their preservation of surveillance and policing discourses. These themes reveal how postracial discourses reflect and produce their larger social world, obfuscating settler logics through slippery and sticky strategies.

Positive Discourse Analysis of the Presidential Rhetoric at the G20 Summit 2022 in Bali, Indonesia

Abstract. This study aims to uncover the utilization of positive discourse in presidential rhetoric during the G20 Summit 2022. This qualitative study employs a dataset of speeches delivered by the President of Indonesia, obtained from the official website of The Secretary of the Cabinet of the Republic of Indonesia. The speeches were published online between November 14 and 16, 2022. The procedures involve examining the speeches, identifying positive language, categorizing the data into three main themes (i.e., uniting, being optimistic, and maintaining world peace), analyzing rhetorical strategies and interpreting the data using the Positive Discourse Analysis approach. The results show that the President of Indonesia encourages all countries to unite to achieve common goals. Despite a severe toll on the world economy after the pandemic, he spreads optimism to the summit. He also persuades everyone to maintain world peace. These three focal points are conveyed by utilizing personal pronouns ‘we’ to strengthen the sense of collectivity and build unity and ‘I’ to highlight his good leadership quality. Justification for the negative impacts of war is expressed through conditional clauses. Other discursive strategies in his rhetoric include using lexical choices, parallel structures, modals, metaphors, rhetorical questions, and repetitive phrases. The encouragement and uplifting messages in the speeches may boost positive vibes in the meeting. The use of rhetorical techniques can impact international relations, economic cooperation, and how people worldwide work together to address common issues.Keywords: Positive Discourse Analysis, president, indonesia, G20, summit

(Mis)pronunciations of Hispanic Given Names in the U.S.: Positionalities and Discursive Strategies at Play

This qualitative study examines the indexical nature of given names and their role in self-positioning within diverse social contexts. The study centers on the pronunciation of Hispanic given names in the United States. The analysis is grounded in interviews with six young adults who recognize that their names have Spanish and English variants, and it demonstrates that bearers’ phonological awareness plays a critical role in distinguishing name variants and mispronunciations, as evidenced through metalinguistic comments. These distinctions are additionally shaped by personal criteria. By examining the participants’ narratives and one participant’s discursive strategies in particular, I show that the pronunciation of given names constitutes a significant linguistic resource intentionally mobilized and managed to negotiate social positionings. Moreover, this research highlights that conferring Hispanic given names in the U.S. constitutes a sociocultural strategy that extends beyond an indexical ethnocultural naming practice across generations. This practice is found to be a means of fostering and maintaining intergenerational relationships.

Digital resistance: Discursive construction of polarization and otherness in Oduduwa secessionists’ social media discourse

This paper investigates the discursive strategies employed by Oduduwa secessionists to construct polarization and otherness on Twitter. Using the socio-cognitive approach to CDA combined with social media CDA, the study illustrates how socio-cultural and spatiotemporal contexts are embedded in digital performances of resistance. Findings show that the secessionists employ four main discursive strategies, namely: (1) vitriolic socio-cognitive labels and coinages; (2) generalization and ethnocentrism; (3) language of threat; and (4) use of Yoruba language to legitimize their resistance, accentuate their ideological stances, construct polarization and otherness, and do social mobilization. These strategies are achieved via discursive, linguistic, and stylo-orthographic resources made available by digital technology. The paper concludes that the discursive strategies employed by the secessionists do not directly reflect polarization but are simply constitutive of it.

Coping with Hate: Exploring Indian Journalists’ Responses to Online Harassment

ABSTRACT In India, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) employs a digital army of right-wing supporters to harass journalists who are critical of the party's Hindu-nationalist ideology. As a result, the country's press freedom rankings have significantly declined over the past decade. While scholars have examined the discursive strategies used by online Hindu nationalists against journalists, how reporters cope with these attacks remains unknown. This study investigates how Indian media professionals perceive the personal and professional consequences of harassment for themselves and the coping strategies they use to combat digital hate. In-depth interviews with 24 journalists reveal that they employ mechanisms such as strategic social disconnection, formation of alliance networks, and working for non-profit news sites and international media organizations to overcome the effects of social media harassment. The analysis also highlights that commercial media that are subservient to the Modi government failed to protect their reporters, while independent media outlets provide much more support to their employees. The findings underscore the need for social media companies to promptly respond to content flagged by journalists and allocate additional resources to moderate hate speech in India's local languages to safeguard journalists from sustained online abuse.