18 Million Cracks In The Glass Ceiling

Language, Gender and power in Hillary R. Clinton’s Political Rhetoric

Autore: Michela Giordano
Anno: 2012
Pagine: 198
ISBN: 978-88-95692-73-9
Prezzo: € 18,00
Note: Formato 16×23 – Foto di copertina di Manuela Giordano e Nicola Ambrosini

Acquista Online

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Il libro

Historically, women have been largely excluded from the majority of political leadership roles. In the USA, despite centuries of progress made by equal rights advocates, philosophers, suffragists and feminists, women still remain manifestly underrepresented in top echelon public positions such as those of senator and governor and, in particular, that of President which still appears to be beyond the reach of a woman. This study explores the intricate relationship between language, politics and gender through the analysis of the controversial and much-debated figure of Hillary R. Clinton. The investigation focuses both on Hillary R. Clinton as the subject of discourse, i.e. as producer of texts and speeches, and as the object of discourse, i.e. as the topic and target of mass media discourse. Her viable bid for the Democratic nomination in the 2008 American presidential elections once again raised questions about biases, stereotypes, sexism and women’s discrimination both in the political arena and among the media.

Per secoli le donne sono state escluse dalla sfera pubblica. Nonostante il progresso e le conquiste ottenute grazie ai fautori dell’uguaglianza dei diritti nel corso della storia, negli Stati Uniti, che insieme alla Gran Bretagna hanno rappresentato la culla del movimento femminista, le donne sono ancora sottorappresentate nei ruoli pubblici e politici di rilievo, come quelli di senatore o governatore di uno stato e, in particolare, quello di Presidente che appare ancora inaccessibile al genere femminile. Questo libro si propone di esplorare il rapporto intricato e complesso tra le tematiche linguistiche, politiche e di genere attraverso la figura dibattuta e controversa di Hillary R. Clinton. L’analisi considera Hillary R. Clinton sia come soggetto del discorso in qualità  di personaggio politico impegnato in interviste, conferenze stampa e dibattiti, sia come oggetto del discorso, in qualità  di personaggio pubblico e bersaglio dei mass media. La sua corsa alle primarie per la nomination Democratica nelle elezioni presidenziali americane del 2008 ha, ancora una volta, risollevato pregiudizi e stereotipi, così come atteggiamenti sessisti e discriminanti nei confronti delle donne sia nell’arena politica che nell’ambito della comunicazione di massa.

L’indice

  • Acknowledgements
  • Introduction
  1. Taking the fast
  2. Overview of aims and contents
  • Political discourse: approaches and perspectives
  1. Political discourse as specialized discourse
  2. Discourse communities and genres
  3. Language and politics: a brief overview
  4. Critical Discourse Analysis
  5. Rhetoric
  6. Pragmatics
  7. Corpus Linguistics
  • Politics and media: gendered frames and stereotypes
  1. Political communication and media discourse
  2. The horse race: the front runner vs the underdog
  3. Spin doctors and sound bites
  4. Gender and the media: frames and stereotypes
  5. The media and Hillary Clinton
  6. Studies on the 2008 American presidential elections
  • Gender and language
  1. Is the English language sexist
  2. Linguistic varieties across genders
  3. A ”˜powerless language’?
  4. Is male speech the norm?
  5. ”˜Powerlessness’ or ”˜self-determined strategy’?
  6. Feminine rhetoric
  • Clinton and Thatcher: shrinking violets or iron ladies?
  1. Women in politics: shattering the glass ceiling?
  2. The use of personal pronouns
  3. “Equal opportunities, equal pay and equal respect”
  4. Journey, fight and sport: political metaphors
  5. The metaphors of silence and of the weaker sex
  6. Hedging devices and indirect language
  7. Thatcher and Clinton’s linguistic political style
  • Hillary Clinton’s political rhetoric
  1. Politics is conflict
  2. Conflict as a political struggle
  3. Conflict as a civil fight for human rights
  4. Conflict as a military and armed warfare
  5. Conflict as a struggle for peace
  6. The foreign policy hawk
  • Hillary Clinton’s media coverage
  1. Personality traits and character analysis
  2. The public vs the private realm
  3. Lady Macbeth: metaphors of evil
  4. The ultimate spinner: metaphors of animals
  • Conclusions
  • References