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Analysing the representation of social actors: The conceptualisation of objects of governance

Farrelly, Michael

Authors



Contributors

Nicolina Montesano Montessori
Editor

Jane Mulderrig
Editor

Abstract

Analysis of how policy-makers and legislators represent social actors in texts can give valuable insight into their conceptualisation of objects of governance. Drawing on Van Leeuwen’s methodological work in Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and the theoretical perspective of Cultural Political Economy (CPE), this chapter shows how to analyse the representation of social actors using the example of significant shifts toward ‘competition’ in UK policy on the governance of its gas industry. The chapter analyses the representation of social actors in the ‘texts’ of two parliamentary ‘second reading debates’ (in 1985 and 1995) and shows how current problems in the UK’s competitive energy markets are, effectively, prefigured in the way social actors had been represented in the conceptualisation of competition during these debates. The chapter concludes that analysis of the representation of social actors gives a powerful method for uncovering implicit conceptualisation of objects of governance.

Citation

Farrelly, M. (2019). Analysing the representation of social actors: The conceptualisation of objects of governance. In N. Montesano Montessori, M. Farrelly, & J. Mulderrig (Eds.), Critical Policy Discourse Analysis (147-168). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781788974967.00012

Online Publication Date Dec 6, 2019
Publication Date 2019
Deposit Date Apr 1, 2022
Publisher Edward Elgar Publishing
Pages 147-168
Book Title Critical Policy Discourse Analysis
Chapter Number 7
ISBN 9781788974950
DOI https://doi.org/10.4337/9781788974967.00012
Public URL https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/3589662