Unit 10: Critical Literacy in the 21st century 2: How to see through the political rhetoric

1. Unit 10. Critical Literacy in the 21st century, Part 2: How to see through the political rhetoric University of Aruba, Faculty of Arts & Science Critical Literacy and Interaction October 4, 2010

2. Today’s topic Repeat some highlights of unit 6: ideologies Political discourse The role of persuasion The role of meaning generating devices in political discourse: Myths (stories) Metaphors

3. What is an ideology? Ideologies are the fundamental beliefs of a group and its members

4. Ideology and Power 4 Why do people develop ideologies? Cognitively: ideologies may be developed because they organize social representations Social basis: people are better able to form groups based on identification along various dimensions, including sharing an ideology Since ideologies control social practices in general and discourse in particular, a social function would be: ideologies enable or facilitate joint action, interaction and cooperation of in-group, as well as interactions with out-group members (social micro level functions of ideology) At macro level, ideologies are described in terms of group relations, in terms of power, dominance (control) but also cooperation

5. Power 5

6. Social power and Ideologies 6 The power of group A over another group B. Usually this means control of action: A is able to control (limit, prohibit, stimulate ) the actions of B. Since discourse is also a form of action, such control may be also exercised over discourse and its properties: context, topic and style. Since discourse may influence the mind of recipients, groups may indirectly (e.g. through mass media) also control the mind of people persuasion and manipulation Powerful discourse may influence the way we define an event or situation in our mental models or how we represent society in our knowledge, attitudes and ideologies. Control of discourse (sender)taking a critical stand To have power, you have to legitimize it.

7. General strategy for ideological analysis of discourse 7 A method to ‘find’ ideology in text and talk. We’ll link this method with the self-schema of groups Membership: who are we? Who belong to us? Who can be admitted? Activities: What are we doing? Planning? What is expected of us? Aims: why are we doing this? What do we want to achieve? Norms: What is good or bad? Allowed or not allowed in what we do? Relations: Who are our friends? Or enemies? Where do we stand in society? Resources: What do we have that others don’t? What don’t we have that others do have?

8. Political ideology A set of beliefs and ideas that one can apply into policies and events: one’s political ‘moral code’ and worldview A way to gauge one’s view of change in both society and political system A way to gauge one’s view of the role of government in a society in both economic and social/moral affairs 4 functions of (political) ideology: Explanation Evaluation Orientation Political program http://www.slideshare.net/technolote/some-major-political-ideologies

9. Political discourse Political discourse is a form of discourse with specific purposes: To teach ideologies (explicitly and implicitly) To legitimize power (to de-legitimize power of the other) To mobilize resources

10. Political leadership & Discourse 10 “ It has always been preferable for the governed to be ruled by the spoken word rather than by the whip, the chain or the gun” (Chaterteris-Black, 2005) Leadership is a social act requiring individuals who are gifted in the arts of communication and self-representation as well as other who are ready to follow the visions offered by leaders The more democratic societies become, the greater the need of the leader to convince potential followers that they and their policy can be trusted Purpose: To legitimize power, (to de-legitimize power of the other) to mobilize Language, discourse, the most important tool for this. Language of leadership

11. The art of persuasion

12. Persuasion and Rhetoric Rhetoric is the art of persuading others, therefore rhetoric and persuasion are inseparable The difference between rhetoric and persuasion is that the first refers to the act of communication from the receivers' perspective (hearer), while persuasion refers both to speakers intentions and to successful outcomes. Hearer’s are only persuaded when the speaker’s (sender) rhetoric is successful The most rhetorically successful speech performance is the most persuasive one as measured by the follower’s responses

13. Classical rhetoric (Aristotle) The classical rhetorical notions of ethos, logos and pathos are very important to distinguish on which levels political discourse is aiming at: Logos: rationality, the logical aspect of the content (logica) Ethos: morality, normative evaluations Pathos: feelings and emotions

14. Intention is very important in persuasion Persuasion is an interactive communicative process in which a message sender aims to influence the believes, attitudes and behavior of the message receiver (Jowett & O’Donnell, 1992) It is important to distinguish the two roles in the communication process: The active role of the sender is characterized by deliberate intentions: persuasion doesn’t occur by chance but because of the sender’s purposes The receiver’s role may be perceived as passive, but if persuasion is to be successful the message needs to comply with their wants and needs, their desires and imagination

16. Strategy: US and ThemPolarization 16 Positive self-presentation / Negative other-Representation: Say positive things about US Say negative things about THEM Do not say negative things about US Do not say positive things about THEM This is a very general characteristic of group conflict and the ways we interact we opposed groups, but also this strategy also characterizes the way we talk about ourselves and others As formulated above, the strategy is too absolute, direct and general Let’s look at a more subtle strategy to express ideologies in text and talk

17. Ideological Square (van Dijk, 2004) 17 Emphasize positive things about US Emphasize negative things about THEM De-emphasize negative things about US De-emphasize positive things about THEM These 4 possibilities form a conceptual square ideological square. It may be applied to all levels of discourse analysis: content, semantic and lexical level (meaning of words and sentences), to opposing pairs ((de)-emphasize): length, brief, explicitly, implicitly, metaphors, big or small headlines,

18. I’m a democrat and I’m a republican http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiQJ9Xp0xxU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPG25Wf0aa4&NR=1 Let’s answer the 5 core questions of media literacy

19. Core concepts translated in key questions (your role: consumer of media) Who created this message? (authorship/sender) What creative techniques are used to attract my attention (format/creative strategies for reality construction) How might different people understand this message differently? (audience/receiver) What values, lifestyles and points of view are represented in, or omitted from, this message? (content) Why is this message being sent? (purpose)

20. Ideological square analysis 20 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YH8vyU3ccko&feature=related FITNA Meaning: Temptation, A test Theological sense: God tests your ability to withdraw from temptation. Testing the power of believers of Islam

21. Meaning generating devices that carry ideologies (persuasive strategies) Powerful rhetorical devices are: Metaphors are a persuasive figure of speech very common in political arguments, because it represents a certain way of viewing the world that reflects a shared system of believe (ideology). It has cognitive imaginary rich and emotional valueexperience Myths (stories): a story that provides an explanation for all the things for which explanations are felt to be necessary Ideology, myth and metaphor are similar in that they share a common discourse function of persuasion and the expressive potential for cognitive and emotional engagement

22. 3 political myths (Geiss, 1987) 22 The myth of the Conspiratorial Enemy is a myth in which a hostile out-group is plotting to commit some harmful act against an in-group. The Valiant Leader myth is one in which the political leader is benevolent and is effective in saving people from danger by displaying qualities of courage, aggression and the ability to overcome difficulties The united We Stand myth is a belief that a group can achieve victory over its enemies by obeying and making sacrifices for its leaders

23. Myth 1: Conspiratiorial enemy The myth of the Conspiratorial Enemy is a myth in which a hostile out-group is plotting to commit some harmful act against an in-group http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=binMjEiS8AY Other examples: The islamization of the NL, The communistists take over

24. Myth 2: The Valiant Leader The Valiant Leader myth is one in which the political leader is benevolent and is effective in saving people from danger by displaying qualities of courage, aggression and the ability to overcome difficulties http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6DD-Yd0sfA

25. E.g. expressive power for potential cognitive and emotional engagement.

26. Myth 3: United we stand The United We Stand myth is a belief that a group can achieve victory over its enemies by obeying and making sacrifices for its leaders http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJoL5drdxxY