This thesis focuses on the Aeronet.cz website and the division of society into 'Us' and 'Them' in the context of the website. The thesis is divided into two parts - a theoretical one and a research one. The theoretical part aims to describe the background of the researched website and certain phenomena which are believed to be connected to the website. This part also includes a review of theoretical concepts pertaining to the connection of language and ideology. Furthermore, certain strategies utilized in group identity construction and division of society into differently evaluated segments are described. The research is conducted in the form of a semiotic analysis but incorporates certain elements of critical discourse analysis as well. The analysis has two main goals. The first goal is to describe the composition of 'Us' and 'Them' groups in the context of the portal, the second goal is to investigate which strategies of identity construction are employed to achieve such division. To support the findings, the thesis offers a detailed overview of individual entities and their evaluation. A description of strategies from all levels of the research, which were used to evaluate a certain entity, is also included. The discussion consists of synthesis of all the findings with respect to both...

Voice assistant technology on smartphones, smart speakers, or those on the wearable devices is one of the fastest-growing artificial intelligence applications in the market now. However, with the potential ethical issues related to the voice technology, it still has not been extensively covered in major markets such as Indonesia. Therefore, this study aims to explore Indonesians’ perception of voice assistant technology, mainly focusing on whether ethical concerns might play a role in their adoption and use of the technology. Firstly, the picture of the discussion about voice assistants and the possibilities of ethical issues is surrounding the technology in the Indonesian landscape by media is presented using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). The findings indicate that educational and informative material has a wider resonance compared to ethical concerns and the downsides received from the technology. Secondly, the study also explored the motivations to adopt and use the technology, focusing on whether ethical concerns might play a role in their perception of the technology, attitude, and experience toward voice assistants through semi-structured interviews. The data, then, was analyzed using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). It shows that the users who perceive the voice assistant useful or easy to use still use it to a varying extent. It indicates that TAM variables are not fully explaining the adoption of technology. Adding an ethical framework, we can see that most of the users do not have enough knowledge of the technology they use. It resonates with the portrayal of the subject in media. However, those who are unaware of or neglect the situation to adopt and use the technology still use voice technology influenced by peer pressure, their respect for authority, and other rationalization behavior. Meanwhile, mediation theory explores the influence of the human- technology relationship on the ethical behavior of the users. It also explains that the relation between technology and users is an alterity relationship.

This study aims to survey the news coverage regarding the 2019 boycott of the Swedish national women’s ice hockey team. The primary focus is to convey the portrayal of both gender and the boycott, while eventual changes in framing through time and between newspapers have been considered. The study has utilized a theoretical framework, consisting of media theories Agenda-Setting Theory and Framing Theory as well as gender theory. Both research fields have also been supported by previous research. The study has been conducted through a mixed methodology with quantitative content analysis as well as a critical discourse analysis as described by Norman Fairclough. The material has been assorted through a stratified sampling, consisting of a total of 224 articles from 79 different Swedish newspapers published between August 1st and November 30th, 2019. The material for the critical discourse analysis consists of eight articles, two from each month, which has been chosen through a purposive sample to match the quantitative content analysis. The results show that women have a prominent and professional role in the news coverage, in both body text and headlines. However, women mainly defend the boycott and the choices that lead to the situation. Men discuss the topic more freely, although they are not the primary source of information. The boycott is portrayed as a consequence of an economic factor, rather than the treatment that lead to economic differences between men and women. The news coverage has mainly framed the event in similar ways, giving a tantamount report of the boycott. Although there is a measurable change through time, there are no differences in the main framing, such as the economical take of the articles. Therefore, this study concludes that framing contributes to the portrayal of traditional gender roles. Furthermore, the portrayal of the boycott promotes that men, who mainly write the articles, are unable to understand the problem of treatment, leading to framing that aims towards male readers.

Much linguistic research has been done on the fictional argot of A Clockwork Orange, known as Nadsat, but few efforts have been made to expand beyond the classification and analysis of Nadsat. Using Critical Discourse Analysis, this paper looks at the overarching discourse of A Clockwork Orange and aims to answer three questions: What exigencies and discourses inform the creation of these works? What techniques and power structures are employed in the construction of these works? How do these works shape or attempt to shape the discourse? To answer these questions, I look at three instances of the discourse: Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange, Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange, and Krege’s translation, Clockwork Orange. These instances are varied over time of publication (1962, 1971, 1997), language (English, German), medium (novel, film), and culture (British, American, German), allowing enough variance to examine how the discourse changes to meet the needs of its participants.

This thesis investigates the portrayal of non-violent direct action (NVDA) in This Is Not a Drill: An Extinction Rebellion Handbook by considering the two chapters “Courting Arrest” by Jay Griffiths, and “The Civil Resistance Model” by Roger Hallam. Using critical discourse analysis in the style of Norman Fairclough, I examine the textual features, discourse practices, and social practices of the chapters by applying theories of environmental justice, intersectionality, and embodiment. I argue that Griffiths and Hallam reproduce oppressive power structures by excluding certain identities and experiences from their discourse. First, the lack of a discussion of the situatedness of violence within the NVDA strategy employed by Extinction Rebellion – focusing on having as many protestors arrested as possible – represents the acts of arrest as inherently non-violent. This representation erases other possible experiences of arrest from the discourse. Second, the authors portray their own experiences as universal, and thereby create a universal subject that is white, middle-class, able-bodied, and a legal resident of the UK. Discourse is seen as both constitutive of, and constituted by, the social world; this portrayal of subjectivities is shown to have very real effects on to what degree certain identities feel at home within the Extinction Rebellion movement. I conclude the study with a discussion of possible paths for Extinction Rebellion and other similar movements to become more inclusive by adopting a more intersectional perspective that acknowledges the embodied realities of different identities. By applying this perspective, these movements can start working against hegemonic structures of oppression that exclude certain (non-white) identities from decision-making processes.

Prisoners constitute one of the most marginalized groups of society and prison education as a field remains under-researched and under-theorized (Szifris et al., 2018). Regarding European policy documentation it “has been surprisingly invisible” (Czerniawski, 2016, p. 202). This thesis seeks to contribute to the field of prison education policy research. It critically examines prison education documents of the UK, Norway and Ireland. The theoretical framework draws from critical theory, critical discourse analysis (CDA), critical pedagogy and critical adult education as well as neoliberalism in education. CDA serves hereby both as theory and method that allows us to uncover the different ideologies and assumptions underlying the documents.  The research suggests that the policy document of the UK follows a neoliberal and narrow approach to education where the value of education is exhausted by the fact that it can fill workplace shortages. Further, prisoners are portrayed one-sided with being an offender as the main characteristic. On the other hand, Norway and Ireland represent prisoners as persons with different backgrounds, needs and feelings. Both reflect notions of critical pedagogy and critical adult education thus emphasizing the importance of fostering critical thinking through education and education for personal development. Further, it stresses the alleviating function of education in prison. However, in the Norwegian document the language remains unassertive when it comes to the applicability of the right to education to foreign prisoners in Norwegian prisons. The Irish document leaves unclear from which perspective their objectives and concepts in education are considered. Additionally, the thesis also critically discusses the need for a wide curriculum in prison, perceptions of self-responsibility and problematizes the over-reliance on measurement in education.

This thesis conducts a comparative study of two big, international civil society organisations, La Via Campesina and WWF, and their work with climate change. The purpose is to investigate why they have such different perspectives toward solving the climate crisis, and whether the explanation can be found by looking at the different positions they have in relation to the global hegemonic system. Two supplementary approaches of discourse analysis, Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis and Bacchi’s What’s The Problem Represented to Be-approach, are utilised to analyse the organisations’ framing of climate change. Gramsci’s theoretical framework of hegemony is applied in order to inform the analysis and to shed light on how this framing interrelates to the hegemonic system of neoliberalism. In the case of La Via Campesina, the conclusion is that they are a counter-hegemonic movement, fighting in a war of position over the common sense. This spills over into their work on climate change, which is aimed at bringing transformative change. WWF has a more reformist agenda and is effectively enabling the perseverance of the current hegemony, but it cannot be confirmed within the scope if this thesis whether this is a direct consequence of co-optation or not.

The purpose of the study is to examine how leaders within Oatly and Ben & Jerry's describe their organizations through CSR communication in relation to growing tendencies of critique against businesses. The study takes a social structuralist position based on the ideas of Michel Foucault and Norman Fairclough, analyzing the prevalence of discourses in the leaders’ language. Observed material consists of statements from leaders within Oatly and Ben & Jerry’s which were transcribed and then analyzed through Fairclough’s three dimensional model of critical discourse analysis. Findings were that leaders drew upon the similar discourses to construct the identity of their organizations as politically meaningful businesses. This can be understood as a sign of a sociocultural change in the view and manner of speaking of business and CSR. Furthermore, this creates an interest in future studies regarding how changed discourses within business can affect the role organizations play in relation to other social institutions such as political movements and the state.

The aim of the thesis is to contribute to a growing understanding on how Venezuelan refugees are being constructed by the Brazilian media during the ongoing refugee crisis in South America and the main discourses related to them. The fact that South-South migration has so far been understudied and the relevant and fast-escalating displacement of people from Venezuela are the motivations for this study. The theoretical framework consists of Fairclough’s three-dimensional model of CDA and the theoretical concepts of stereotypes and othering. Twenty-one articles about Venezuelan refugees, published between 2016 and 2021, were analyzed. The findings of the thesis show that Venezuelans were mainly associated with negative aspects, entailing two sub discourses: in the first one, they were constructed as the origin of diseases at the borders and associated with violence and tension, and in the second one they were constructed as exploited, underemployed and poorly integrated into the formal labor market.

The Republic of Moldova is a relatively new state in Eastern Europe, formed as an independent country in 1991, after the fall of the Soviet Union. While nation branding efforts in Moldova are still in their infancy, the country’s tensioned historical legacy, divided identity and current discursive struggles make it a valuable, albeit highly unexplored subject for nation branding research. This study draws of a transdisciplinary integrative approach to analyze the ways in which a governmental institution, Invest Moldova Agency, constructs and communicates the nation brand. The aim, as highlighted in the research question, was to identify the discourses employed by the government in the process of nation branding and their relationship to national identity, society, and social practice. Theoretically, the study is informed by Critical Discourse Analysis and Keith Dinnie’s Category flow model of nation branding. Methodologically, I use Fairclough’s three-tier CDA model, additionally employing Multimodal CDA to extend my analysis to include visual alongside textual content. The qualitative study uses Facebook posts, official documents, and an in-depth interview as data. The findings show that discursive strategies on nation branding either focus on national identity or on the practice itself, and they are consistently shaping and being shaped by social practices. Moreover, five discourse categories were identified: critical, accountability, transformative, assessment, and cultural discourses, each of them responsible for creating a specific reality.