Electoral discourse: women as represented by Russian and Colombian mass media
Year: 2022
Type: article
Abstract: The authors analyse the linguistic strategies modern mass media use when writing about female politicians. Comparison of media discourses in Colombian and Russian media is made by means of interpretive, contextual. discourse and content analysis. The main aim of the study is to identify how the mass media view the role of women in politics and to what extent it is affected by the culture and mentality of the society of a given country. Based on Western European research, three linguistic strategies used by the mass media in the field of “women in politics” were dealt with. As a result of comparing Russian and Columbian media discourses the intensive use of these three strategies in the mass media discourse was identified. Exclusion strategy means that the political power that women have is delegated to them (by men). Invisibility strategy implies the use of a metaphor or catachreza (trope or stylistic error, incorrect or unusual use of word combinations with incompatible literal lexical meanings). The presence of a man as the main co-hero is a determining factor or an integral reference to the political activities of women. Caricature strategy implies description of political actions of women satirically, as caricature, as a ridiculous imitation. Ridicule, derogatory forms of address (derived from one's own name or a diminutive form of a name, reflecting the logic of underestimation) lead to a decline in status. The current media discourse broadcasts the idea that women in politics are isolated cases, exceptions, explained primarily by their personal, political or professional relations with men. Descriptions of women's political activities is full of with stereotypes, prejudices and preconceived notions. Colombian media discourse shows a steady trend towards the use of puns in the linguistic representation of women politicians while Russian mass media tend to use caricature strategies in positioning women in politics. The media discourse of both countries predominantly views women as actors in politics, as subjects that, by their very nature, cannot belong to politics.
Source: Communication Studies
Authors: M. Ruiz, V.V. Boguslavskaya
Language: English
Subfield: Linguistics and Language
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4404291997