From Grexit to Brexit and Back: Mediatisation of Economy and the Politics of Fear in the Twitter Discourses of the Prime Ministers of Greece and the UK

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Published: Dec 31, 2018
Keywords:
Twitter, fear, ideology, politics, sociolinguistics, content analysis, discourse historical approach, positioning
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Special Issue on the Social Mediatization of the Economy: Texts, Discourses, and Participation

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Jo Angouri
Salomi Boukala
Dimitra Dimitrakopoulou

Abstract

This article focuses on the Twitter discourse of the Prime Ministers of Greece and the UK during the Greek (5 July 2015) and the British (26 June 2016) Referendums, respectively. It explores the politics of fear and the relationship with economy discourses which dominated the political and media scene. Taking a multimethod approach, we provide a multilevel critical discursive analysis of the Prime Ministers’ tweets in their macro-ideological and political context, combining tools from content analysis, the discourse historical approach, and interactional sociolinguistics. Through this heuristic methodology we analyse the positioning work of the political leaders, as well as the argumentation schemes that were prominent in their discourse. We show that both Prime Minsters heavily draw on the 'economy,' constructed by reference to specific financial indicators, in their political rhetoric and reinforce a polarisation of positions. We conclude by revisiting the impact of Twitter as a political platform on the current political status quo.

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How to Cite
Angouri, J., Boukala, S., & Dimitrakopoulou, D. (2018). From Grexit to Brexit and Back: Mediatisation of Economy and the Politics of Fear in the Twitter Discourses of the Prime Ministers of Greece and the UK. Language@Internet, 16(Special Issue). Retrieved from https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/li/article/view/37756
Author Biographies

Jo Angouri

Jo Angouri holds a Chair at the University of Warwick, UK. Her research expertise is in sociolinguistics, pragmatics, and discourse analysis. She has carried out projects in a range of corporate and institutional contexts, involving both online and face-to-face interaction. She has published widely on language in the workplace, culture, and crisis discourse.

Salomi Boukala

Salomi Boukala is an adjunct lecturer in the Department of Social Anthropology at Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences. She received her Ph.D. from the Department of Linguistics & English Language, Lancaster University, UK. Her research interests include Critical Discourse Analysis and the Discourse Historical Approach, argumentation, political rhetoric, identity politics, and ethnographic approaches.

Dimitra Dimitrakopoulou

Dimitra Dimitrakopoulou is Assistant Professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTh). Her current research interests lie at the intersection of social media, journalism, and society.

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