Breaking Down the Discourse, Exposing Power in Economic Journalism: Critical Discourse Analysis

Critical discourse analysis is based on critical theory, which holds that there are no natural truths. Accordingly, concepts on which economic discourses are based are socially constructed rather than naturally given. This chapter provides a framework and tools for investigating the relationship between discursive-rhetorical patterns in economics discourse and global social situations and ideologies, with the aim of exposing how positions are legitimised and imposed on the individual, and, hence, how power, dominance and inequality are constructed. The chapter illustrates the use of some of these tools - such as metaphors, active versus passive voice, abstract versus concrete, agents versus missing agents - via a case study.