The Discursive Construction of the Modern Political Self (Routledge Focus on Linguistics)

Aiello, Jacqueline

ISBN 10: 103222570X / ISBN 13: 9781032225708

Published by Routledge, 2024

About this Item

Seller Inventory # 395900287

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Discursive Construction of the Modern Political Self (Routledge Focus on Linguistics)
• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication Date: 2024
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 103222570X
• ISBN 13: 9781032225708
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

This book explores the impact of new media on politicians’ construction, presentation, and dissemination of their political selves, focusing on the social media presence of US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to offer new insights into the landscape of contemporary political discourse.

Drawing on work from corpus linguistics, interactional sociolinguistics, and critical discourse analysis, Aiello charts the ways in which the politician employed a range of discursive strategies via social media in her first campaign to introduce her political identity to a wider audience, and the subsequent responses by media outlets. The volume examines how she continued to solidify her political agenda throughout the course of her tenure, unpacking her crafting of counterattacks and “clapbacks,” in particular, in counteracting delegitimizing attacks from both mainstream media outlets and user-generated content. Aiello brings these insights together to offer a more holistic understanding of American political discourse but also the intersection of language, power, ideology, and the role of social media in modern political campaigns and populist discourses.

The book will be of interest to students and scholars in digital communication, political communication, critical discourse analysis, and sociolinguistics.

About the Author

Jacqueline Aiello is Assistant Professor at University of Ferrara, Italy. She earned her doctorate in TESOL from New York University. She is the author of Negotiating Englishes and English-speaking Identities (2018, Routledge), for which she was awarded the 2019 AIA Junior Book Prize.