Constructing the Welfare State in the British Press: Boundaries and Metaphors in Political Discourse (Bloomsbury Advances in Critical Discourse Studies)

Analysing political discourse in the British press during a time of crisis and austerity, this book examines how the concept of the welfare state has been constructed between 2008 and 2015. At a time when the financial crisis and government policies have put the welfare state under increased pressure, a corpus from four British newspapers from across the political spectrum - the Guardian , Daily Mirror , Daily Mail , and Daily Telegraph - is brought together to investigate the political debate on its evaluation and the ambiguity about its exact definition. Combining two theoretical approaches, Malgorzata Paprota outlines the figurative models and scenarios relevant to this element of the political system. The discourse-historical approach to discourse analysis is used to establish what the welfare state is, tracing the boundaries of the concept and which elements of political reality are explicitly associated with it. Conceptual metaphor theory is then used to explore the figurative conceptualisations of the welfare state. Together, this book shows the discursive construction, and shifting boundaries and metaphors, of the welfare state by the British press and its use in current political debates. Analysing political discourse in the British press during a time of crisis and austerity, this book examines how the concept of the welfare state has been constructed between 2008 and 2015. At a time when the financial crisis and government policies have put the welfare state under increased pressure, a corpus from four British newspapers from across the political spectrum - the Guardian, Daily Mirror, Daily Mail, and Daily Telegraph - is brought together to investigate the political debate on its evaluation and the ambiguity about its exact definition. 0Combining two theoretical approaches, Malgorzata Paprota outlines the figurative models and scenarios relevant to this element of the political system. The discourse-historical approach to discourse analysis is used to establish what the welfare state is, tracing the boundaries of the concept and which elements of political reality are explicitly associated with it. Conceptual metaphor theory is then used to explore the figurative conceptualisations of the welfare state. Together, this book shows the discursive construction, and shifting boundaries and metaphors, of the welfare state by the British press and its use in current political debates "Analysing political discourse in the British press during a time of crisis and austerity, this book examines how the concept of the welfare state has been constructed between 2008 and 2015. A corpus from four British newspapers from across the political spectrum is brought together to investigate the political debate on its evaluation and the ambiguity about its exact definition. A discourse-historical approach is used to establish what the welfare state is, and conceptual metaphor theory is then used to explore its figurative conceptualisations"-- Provided by publisher Cover Half Title Series Title Copyright Contents Tables Acknowledgements Introduction: What we talk about when we talk about the British welfare state 1 The contexts, the corpus and the assumptions in this study 2 Boundaries of the welfare state 3 What the welfare state is: Figurative models of the welfare state 4 What the welfare state is: Other metaphors of the welfare state Conclusions: Constructing the welfare state – a safety net versus public services Notes References Excerpts Quoted in the Main Text Index Introduction -- 1. Context, Corpus, and Fields of Study -- 2. Boundaries of the Welfare State -- 3. Figurative Models of the Welfare State -- 4. Indirect Metaphors of the Welfare State -- 5. Construing the Welfare State Bibliography Index