Persuasion Models: Thatcherism Flashcards
What is the genre of the party conference speech?
Party conference speeches are a ceremonial (or epideictic) form of discourse, a community-unifying statement of vision
What is a prototypical example of epideictic speech?
The sermon:
- It does not always aim to bring new members into a community, but rather to maintain and strengthen the ideology and social bonds that already exist within the congregation (i.e. to shape its identity).
- This is achieved principally by defining and defending a vision for the community
What are the audience and the medium of the party conference speech?
Audience: party assembly / general public
Medium: oral delivery of a written text
What do we mean with the word “move”?
It is the functional unit in a text that reflects the communicative purpose of a specific part of a text
What are the moves of the big conference speech?
- Joke
- Thanking the Predecessors
- Self-Portrait of the Leader (as a caring person, world statesperson, visionary, firm politician)
- Expressing a vision
- Attacking the opposition
- The peroration (leader’s arguments summed
What do you know about Margaret Thatcher? (2)
◼ Leader of the Conservative Party (1975- 1990)
◼ Served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990
What do you know about Thatcher’s’ politics? (5)
◼ Reduced state intervention in the economy (deregulation)
◼ Free market
◼ Privatization of nationally-owned enterprises
◼ Introduction of market mechanisms into health and education
◼ War vs Argentina in the Falkland Islands.
What is Thatcher’s impact on society? (2)
◼ High unemployment rates
◼ Strikes
What are the two economic models mentioned by Ms Thatcher?
Socialism and capitalism
Which model does she sustain and how does she justify her position?
Capitalism:
- incompatibility between socialism and Britishness
- Capitalism = prosperity and happiness
- Nationalization and control are the opposite of a flourishing country
What values are associated with Britishness according to Ms Thatcher?
Creativity and enterprise
What is the model/notion that better matches such values?
The free market
What is the socialist conception of equality, according to Ms Thatcher?
The socialist conception of equality coincides with the notion of identity, for example the impossibility of following one’s inclinations and developing individual talents.
What are the four persuasion models?
Persuasion by:
- Comparison
- Problem/solution
- Authority
- Association
Make an example of persuasion by comparison that Ms Thatcher made.
- We are a people who have received more Nobel prizes than any other nation except America, and head for head we have done better than
America. - We export more of what we produce than either West Germany, France, Japan or the United States
- What we face today is not a crisis of capitalism, but of Socialism.
How does persuasion by comparison work?
The persuader invites us to compare and contrast an argument, policy, product with one or more others.
The implication is that one is better than the others.
“Us” vs. “Them” -> Dualism
Where can we find persuasion by comparison aside from political speeches?
Advertisements
How does the persuasion Problem / Solution work?
The problem is created in order to impose something as a solution and be seen as the good guy. For example an advertisement about a product for curly hair could be talking about flat hair as a problem.
How does persuasion by authority work?
People defer to experts and are more likely to accept a suggestion if it is backed up by authority. For example toothpaste ads always say that the brand is either used or preferred by dentists.
How does persuasion by association work?
◼ This persuasion technique tries to link a product, service, or idea with something already liked or desired by the target audience, such as fun, pleasure, beauty, security, intimacy, success, wealth, etc.
◼ The media message doesn’t make explicit claims that you’ll get these things; the association is implied.
Why can persuasion by association be a very powerful technique?
A good ad can create a strong emotional response and then associate that feeling with a brand (family = Coke, victory = Nike).
This process is known as emotional transfer.
What was Britain’s economic situation like when Thatcher became Prime Minister?
Britain was considered “the sick man of Europe”
(in Thatcher’s opinion) What was one of the great debates of her time?
How much of people’s money should be spent by the state and how much people should keep to spend on their families
What did Reagan and Thatcher have in common?
They were supporters of the free market
Why does Thatcher maintain that the poor and the rich have to pay the same amount of taxes?
So that everybody cares about collective problems and feels involved
What social class does Thatcher come from? What do the members of her class think about those who live on welfare money?
Lower middle class. They resent the “slackers” that take and contribute nothing to the community.
What’s Thatcher’s position as regards the European Union?
Fiercely against it as it would limit Britain’s sovereignty.
