Dehumanisation as a discursive strategy in the British popular press
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| Year of publication | 2008 |
| Type | Chapter of a book |
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| Description | This article discusses the notion of discursive strategies in the media, describing their relationship to broad macro-strategies as goal-oriented plans of discourse participants on the one hand and the particular linguistic means used for their articulation on the other. Focusing on the referential/nomination strategeis and predicative strategies, it describes the use of labels and stereotypes which result in the dehumanisation of social actors. Using material from the media reporting of political events connected with the war in Iraq, it notes how descriptive labels and animal metaphors are used to construct an imaginary out-group which becomes subject to negative other-presentation. The ultimate purpose of such discursive strategies may consist in the implicit legitimation of certain political agendas. |
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