Marsh, Amy Louise (2023) “If the people vote for square circles, it’s gonna be a problem for the politicians to deliver it”: A longitudinal discursive analysis of broadcast political discourse as the UK left the European Union. Doctoral thesis, York St John University.
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Text (Doctoral thesis)
If the people vote for square circles, it’s gonna be a problem for the politicians to deliver it - A longitudinal discursive analysis of b.pdf - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution. | Preview |
Abstract
In recent years, the field of Longitudinal Qualitative Research (LQR) has become of increasing interest to social scientists. The development of this field has been pivotal in demonstrating that issues of change through time need not only to be a quantitative concern. Instead, LQR highlights that change and stability is a key component of talk and should therefore be of interest to qualitative researchers. Despite growing engagement with this field from other qualitative methods, Discursive Psychology (DP) has largely failed to systematically address the issue of change and stability within discourse. This is surprising, and somewhat disappointing, as the practice of DP has the tools to make a meaningful contribution to the development of this methodology. The aim of this thesis is therefore to make the case for a longitudinal discursive approach towards data analysis by building upon the methodological tools and social constructionist principles that DP has at its disposal. This is accomplished through the longitudinal discursive analysis of broadcast political debate as the UK left the European Union. In this analysis, I examine how key issues relating to Brexit were constructed and challenged by speakers. Issues selected for analysis include leadership, advocacy for a second referendum, and Labour’s Brexit policy. The key finding of this analysis is that the strategies speakers used when constructing these issues were situated within a temporal context. This means that the strategies speakers employed changed (or remained stable) through time to respond to developing contextual and rhetorical factors. These findings illustrate that the presence of change, stability, and temporality within talk are central to our understanding of political phenomena. This has wide- reaching implications for the ‘traditional’ practice of DP. From this, I provide a conceptual and methodological framework for the practice of longitudinal discursive research.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Status: | Published |
| Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology |
| School/Department: | School of Education, Language and Psychology |
| URI: | https://ray.yorksj.ac.uk/id/eprint/9176 |
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