Antithesis and Utilitas Flashcards
What is the UK Independence Party? What do we know about it?
Since its foundation in 1993 (Maastricht Treaty 1992) , it has campaigned to take Britain out of the EU. Eurosceptic, right-wing, populist party.
It remained a relatively small party until Nigel Farage became its leader in 2006.
Since 1999, distinction between electoral results at European Elections and General Elections:
- Strategic supporters who vote for UKIP in European Elections;
- Core supporters who back UKIP (also) at General Elections.
2018: after the Brexit referendum Farage left UKIP to join the Brexit Party
2018- present: association with the far-right and internal instability
Who is Nigel Farage?
British broadcaster and former politician
His second wife was German (i.e. “European”)
Before his political career, he used to work as a broker in the City
He was a member of the Conservative Party, which he left in 1992 after the then-prime minister John Major signed the Treaty of Maastricht
1993-2018: member of UKIP, repeatedly elected MEP
2018: left UKIP to found the Brexit Party (which is now called “Reform UK”)
2017-present: Fox News commentator
2017-2020 Farage hosted The Nigel Farage Show on the UK talk radio station LBC.
Where can we spot Farage use a combination of Ethos and Pathos?
Nigel Farage built into his rhetoric is a narrative of success under his leadership and the limitations of the establishment parties.”
He predicates this demonstration of success upon his ethos; however, he also draws upon pathos to create a sense of personal pride, personifying those successes around him. To attack the establishment he relies upon pathos to create a sense of distained irritation.
What rhetorical devices does Nigel Farage use?
Antithesis: Farage defines himself and his party by what they are against, be that the EU, immigration or the mainstream political class.
Utilitas: the identification of shared objectives or concerns within a community that feel bound together and to the speaker
What is the primary driver for UKIP support?
From sovereignty to immigration: the primary attitudinal driver for UKIP support is Europhobia and [the party’s] attitude towards immigration.
What was the 1st phase of Farage’s populist rhetoric?
During the conference speech he used a performative style and delivery: epideictic
What kind of Ethos-building strategy does Farage use?
He uses the narrative of the “outsider”, not an experienced politician, by saying:
1- “I was a very unlikely member of any political party really. … I was busy working in the city of London.”
2- “My style was a little bit different”
Where can we see a combination of ethos and pathos in Farage’s discourse?
“And I was never even intending to run for local council, but it just seemed to me there was something going so badly wrong with our entire political class, taking us down a track which inevitably, it seemed to me, since Maastricht, would mean the loss of our ability to govern ourselves, though I just felt I got to get involved.” (ethical man who feels morally obliged to do something about such a disgraceful state of affairs)
What mephors does Farage use? Make some examples.
- The country – Britain – has a limited capacity (island)
- Continued immigration could cause the country (the ‘container’) to ‘burst’.
- Immigration will continue as, ‘under orders from the EU’, the government are ‘throwing open [the country’s] borders’.
- The country is thus under a real and growing threat.
- The only way to offset the threat is to force the government to ignore the ‘orders’ and maintain a tough immigration policy.
- The final inference (to force the government to ignore the ‘orders’) is a direct instruction for the Brexit vote.
What is “welfare chauvinism”?
The term ‘welfare chauvinism’ was coined by Andersen and Bjørklund (1990) to account for the perspective that state support should be restricted to national citizens and not provided to ‘others’.
How does Farage construct a discourse of immigrants as a threat?
Farage’s rhetoric makes ample use of threat-constructing, coercive devices, which antagonise the Us/Them groups, legitimising the measures proposed to offset or prevent the projected immigration impact.”
What is utilitas?
Utilitas: the identification of shared objectives or concerns within a community that feel bound together and thus to Farage as the speaker.
