Discursive construction of conflict: territoriality, disease's image and genre identities in literature and social communication

When it comes to discourse analysis, the project covers several types of social debate and implications of identity for individuals and collectives.

Acronym

FFI2017-85227-R

Description

Individual identities are largely the intersection of different collective identities (of genre, ethnic, nationality, age, social class, profession, etc.), which are dynamic entities in chronological evolution (biographic or historic) and adaptable to different contexts.

The debate is understood as a discursive interaction between divergent positions until reaching, ideally, solutions. In practice, however, emotions and interests condition the rational basis of the arguments, so that this debate often turns into a dialogue of the deaf, especially when the collectives that support the opposing positions become identification collectives in which mimicry with the group prevails over rational argumentation and becomes a dispute between identities that do not look for consensus, but for the reinforcement of the group's identity.

In addition, discussions between scientists and important personalities are presented to a public attached to emotional factors that have been studied by mass psychology, where, usually, an anti-intellectual prejudice is detected. The three areas of application, which are highly interconnected, are:

science and its dissemination in relation to health
socio-political dimensions of the public speeches
literature, which include other audio-visual formats and artistic non-verbal codes

In the first field, science interaction with society involves a social management of knowledge that, in the health practice, is not a simple unidirectional dissemination, but the result of professional’s health interaction with their patients.

In the second sphere, both, direct political discourse or political discourse mediated by journalism, offer interesting discussion cases with its own rhetoric that has a third polemic actor in the electorate.

In the third field, literature, understood as a discourse and sociocultural institution, is a testimony that reflects social practices and its conflicts while helping to build constructions of life in the public opinion. Those usually are controversial or volatile and are subject of public debate.

Keywords

Discourse analysis, media, journalism, health, conflict

Non-UV principal researchers