Extending the boundaries of political communication: How ideology can be examined in super-rich television documentaries using Discursive Psychology

Carr, Philippa

Abstract

Political communication is not static and takes a range of forms due to technological change requiring researchers to diversify their interests. When examining talk about wealth inequality, focusing on the overtly political is problematic as issues such as poverty are presented as banal in the media. This chapter will examine how documentaries that are presented as banal entertainment can be discursively analysed as a form of political communication. Discursive Psychology is used to explore how wealthy people account for employing staff to perform domestic tasks in television documentaries. Talk about domestic staff constructs extreme inequality as acceptable by drawing upon individualism, a tenet of neoliberal ideology. It was found that employing staff was presented as essential for the super-rich and desirable for others. Humour within the programmes creates an ambiguous argument to question the fairness of wealth inequality within super-rich homes. Domestic staff account for their labour by presenting their work as beneficial to others drawing upon collectivist ideology. This chapter establishes how a particular television genre (the documentary) that is usually presented as entertainment is also a form of political communication as it draws upon differing ideological stances.

• Online Publication Date: Feb 5, 2021
• Publication Date: Dec 31, 2020
• Deposit Date: Oct 1, 2020
• Pages: 89-114
• Book Title: Political Communication: Discursive Perspectives
• ISBN: 9783030602222
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-60223-9_4
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/6737348
• Publisher URL: https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9783030602222
• Contract Date: Aug 31, 2020