The discourse of austerity in the British press

Grundmann, Reiner; Kreischer, Kim-Sue; Scott, Mike

Abstract

In this paper we analyse the discourse of austerity in British broadsheets. Theoretically, we combine insights from discourse analysis and political science. Methodologically, we present a novel procedure to build and analyse a robust corpus derived from LexisNexis. Our analysis of this corpus shows the powerful actors in the discourse, and how they were able to exercise this power through ideas and language. Their visibility in the press, and their discursive performance are crucial elements in our analysis. Our analysis of the discourse shows that austerity has negative connotations; that no independent economic expertise was visible; that George Osborne was the most influential actor, providing clever catchphrases; that the oppositional Labour Party failed to develop an alternative narrative; that journalists took up elements of Osborne’s narrative rather than developing their own; and that right-wing think tanks had little visibility.

Citation

Grundmann, R., Kreischer, K.-S., & Scott, M. (2018). The discourse of austerity in the British press. In R. Sturm, T. Griebel, & T. Winkelmann (Eds.), Austerity: a journey to an unknown territory: discourses, economics and politics. Nomos. https://doi.org/10.5771/9783845281728-92

• Acceptance Date: Dec 1, 2017
• Publication Date: Jan 4, 2018
• Deposit Date: Mar 22, 2018
• Journal: Zeitschrift für Politik
• Electronic ISSN: 0044-3360
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Issue: Spec.8
• Series Title: Zeitschrift für Politik
• Book Title: Austerity: a journey to an unknown territory: discourses, economics and politics
• ISBN: 978-3-8487-3849-6
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.5771/9783845281728-92
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/903447
• Publisher URL: http://www.nomos-shop.de/_assets/downloads/9783848738496_lese01.pdf
• Contract Date: Mar 21, 2018