In response to the argument that Paul seeks to dominate his audience through his discourse, I join the current conversation about Paul and power by exploring language and power in the Pauline Epistles. By analyzing Paul's use of power embodied in his use of language, I argue that Paul seeks to empower the Corinthians to think and act according to Jesus Christ's cruciform authority. I work within a postmodern hermeneutical paradigm of diversity. My study acknowledges the personal interest and subjectivity of any interpreter but seeks to avoid subordinating the notion of understanding to that of self-interest. Thus, it approaches the topic as a dialogue with the author-other Paul and, at the same time, a conversation with other interpreters of Paul. To achieve a dialogic interpretation, I begin by reflecting on my social location and personal interests concerning power and authority and then complete the circle by reflecting theologically on using power in my context. At the core of the dissertation, I appropriate a socio-linguistic approach to analyze, first, the power structure embedded in Paul's discourse and, second, the influence enacted via Paul' s discourse- i.e., power in words and power via words. I present my argument in this way owing to my conviction that social structure and power relationships shape linguistic behaviour, and conversely, discursive practices influence social (and personal) formation. After a thorough analysis and comparative study of 1 and 2 Corinthians, I critically evaluate Paul's use of power, engaging in dialogue with diverse perspectives on various power-related issues, and theologically reflect on ethics of power. Overall, Paul represents himself as a leader authorized and empowered by God and also as a steward accountable to his Lord Jesus Christ. Although he shows little interest in changing unjust social structures, his discourse indicates an effort to foster a culture of empowering less privileged members within Christian communities. When handling unjust criticisms against him, he stands firm to defend his apostleship and mission. But I suggest that his defense should not be regarded as selfish but as a means to a better end, namely, the protection and upbuilding of the community. Moreover, Paul represents himself as having long-term responsibility to care for the congregations he (and his team) has planted without necessarily seeking permanent control over them. In conclusion, I argue that given his social context, Paul, as God's accountable steward, seeks not to dominate the Corinthians but to empower them to mature in their understanding and to conduct themselves appropriately under the cruciform authority of Jesus Christ.

Blind's autonomous cosmopolitanism is in four distinct layers. The first layer is her unusual everyday family background in the transition from Jewish tradition to the life of European revolutionaries in the 1840s and exile in Britain. The second layer is Blind's mental and moral development under Friederike's care and educational guidance according to the German concept of Bildung. The third layer comes from Mazzini's challenge for Blind to critically evaluate her German cultural heritage and the moral danger in the well-intended German concept of self-cultivation. Blind derives the fourth layer of her autonomous cosmopolitanism from Darwin's theory of evolution and Buckle's argument for a scientific approach to history. Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection postulates sexual autonomy of the individual organism as a pre-condition for evolution by natural selection. Buckle's argument for a scientific approach to the study of history extends this concept by observing that the variety of geographical conditions around the globe gives rise to a diversity of cultures. The concept of social evolution is then anchored in the nature of interdependence between the individual and her society as it changes over time. Overall, my argument is that Blind's contribution to Victorian cosmopolitanism is to write about controversial subjects and to transcend ideological polarizations. She does this by transferring socio-political topics from the public domain into the intimacy of making "an immediate sensuous contact" with the individual reader. Her aim is to touch her reader's heart and to trust in her reader's ability and social will to care rather than to teach her about the individual poet's particular ideas of what should be done to solve problems.

(in English): This Diploma work is examining the relation between contemporary social conceptions and aims of education how these are expressed by curriculum documents mainly in Czech Republic. But this relation is not the case of easy and unidirectional impact of social knowledge to educational science. That is why the first part of this thesis is focused on four important postmodern philosophical and sociological concepts differently delimiting as distinct from modern society. General overview of contemporary society change characteristics proceeding from these analyses is the basis of rather different ways of pedagogical thinking followings. With three pedagogical conceptions simultaneously present in nowadays pedagogical discourse, but originally emerged in different eras and different social backgrounds I am trying to point to considerable antinomy demands on present aims of education. I am delineating which phrasings of social reality the contemporary Czech educational policy is rising from. I am stating that the reduction of social reality as background of education in general can lead to formation of ambivalences in suggested educational policy solutions. Finally this diploma work is trying to put forward brief proposals for solution of these new problems of education.

The continuous rise of socio-economic inequality over the past decades with its connected political outcomes such as the Brexit vote in the UK, and the election of Donald Trump are currently a matter of intense debate both in academia and in journalism. A significant sign of the heightened interest was the surprise popularity of Thomas Piketty's Capital in the 21st Century. The book reached the top of the bestseller lists and was described as a "media Sensation" and Piketty himself as a "rock star Economist". This paper, drawing from a major international and cross-disciplinary study, investigates the print media treatment in four European countries of economic policy proposals presented in Capital. Applying social semiotic and critical discourse analysis, we specifically focus on articles which are in disagreement with these proposals and identify five categories of counterarguments used against Piketty: authorisation, moralisation, rationalisation, portrayal of victimhood and inevitability. Providing textual and linguistic examples we demonstrate how the use of linguistic resources normalises and conventionalises ideology-laden discourses of economic means (taxation) and effects, reinforcing particular views of social relations and class as common sense and therewith upholding and perpetuating power relations and inequalities. / Series: Department of Economics Working Paper Series

This thesis conducts a critical analysis of editorials and columns in mainstream newspapers during Malaysia's 13th General Election (GE13) campaign. In a country that practises parliamentary democracy but simultaneously observes a close cooperation (Mustafa, 2010, p. 51) between the ruling party and the mainstream press, this study explores the links between the two. The thesis demonstrates the continuing power of the mainstream press in the country. It also explores how a so-called parliamentary democracy can lead to authoritarian rule, as well as the role of the press in this process. Adhering to Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) principles, the thesis describes and explains how particular relations of power are enacted, reproduced and legitimized within government-owned media, in this case Malaysia where control is institutionalized. This study specifically focuses on the discursive strategies of legitimation in editorials and columns, and how they present particular narratives or arguments in the interests of the powerful. The thesis offers a greater understanding of the deep ideological structures of mainstream newspapers and, in particular, their construction and (de)legitimisation of the government and opposition during the GE13 campaign. This investigation draws on various methods, from quantitative content analysis to the Discourse-historical Approach (DHA), and insights from a range of disciplines, to examine the discursive features of mainstream newspapers discourse during the GE13 campaign. The main contributions of the thesis are on theoretical, methodological and empirical grounds. It contributes to the body of knowledge on political communication research by focusing on the Asian-Malaysian context and moving away from Western-centric models that often overlook the key element of culture. The application of the DHA provides a novel and valuable contribution to the understanding of Malaysian election communication discourse through its interdisciplinary methods and analyses. The empirical investigation provides conclusive evidence that revolves around the issues of the perversion of developmental journalism, race/ethnicity, Islam and its abuses, as well as change and time. This thesis also reviews and reveals the extent to which the press in Malaysia is controlled, dominated and manipulated, thereby challenging those, including the ruling elite, who have claimed that Malaysia is a democratizing nation state.

The continued rise of socio-economic inequality over the past decades with its connected political outcomes such as the Brexit vote in the UK, and the election of Donald Trump are currently a matter of intense debate both in academia and in journalism. One significant sign of the heightened interest was the surprise popularity of Thomas Piketty's Capital in the twenty-first Century. The book reached the top of the bestseller lists and was described as a "media Sensation", with Piketty himself as a "rock star Economist". This paper, drawing from a major international and cross-disciplinary study, investigates the print media treatment in four European countries of economic policy proposals presented in Capital. Applying social semiotic and critical discourse analysis, we specifically focus on articles which are in disagreement with these proposals and identify five categories of counterarguments used against Piketty: authorisation, moralisation, rationalisation, portrayal of victimhood and inevitability. Providing textual and linguistic examples we demonstrate how the use of linguistic resources normalises and conventionalises ideology-laden discourses of economic means (taxation) and effects, reinforcing particular views of social relations and class as common sense and therewith upholding and perpetuating power relations and inequalities.

Thesis (M.A.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Department of English, General Literature and Rhetoric, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references.

Magdaléna Rysová Discourse Connectives in Czech (From Centre to Periphery) Abstract The thesis focuses on description and analysis of discourse connectives in Czech in broader sense, i.e. by which language means it is possible to express sense relation within a text. The thesis is not limited to any parts of speech (like conjunctions or structuring particles) but it tries to find and describe all language means in Czech with the ability to connect two pieces or units of a text into one coherent complex. The thesis investigates discourse connectives in Czech with respect to the so called secondary connectives (i.e. mainly multiword phrases like to je důvod, proč - that is the reason why; kvůli těmto skutečnostem - due to these facts etc., in opposition to primary connectives like však - however, nebo - or, a - and, ale - but, proto - therefore etc.). Discourse connectives are (in general terms) understood as language expressions that signal semantico-pragmatic relations within a text. However, there are many theories that significantly differ in the concrete description of these expressions. Therefore, there is not a generally accepted and universal definition of discourse connectives and their description and characteristics is still a matter of linguistic discussion. The aim of this thesis is to contribute...

The thesis called Qualitative Analysis of Media Discourse of the Far-right Blog cz.altermedia.info deals with the discourse analysis of the Czech version of an international project Altermedia.info. Discourse analysis aims at differences between the discourse of the founding editor and the current one and analyses the neo-fascist nature of the blog. The theoretical framework of the analysis is based on the postmarxist theory of discourse introduced by Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe. The theoretical part of the thesis summarizes the findings of researchers who are engaged in discourse analysis (structuralism, poststructuralism, Michel Foucault, Louis Althusser, Norman Fairclough, Teun van Dijk). The thesis also examines how specific meaning is constructed within the nationalist discourse of Altermedia and to what extent a new team of authors contributed to the change of discourse. The analysis identifies the main nodal points, which are involved in the construction of discourse, and examines the antagonistic processes within the two different editors. Discursive analysis reveals particular inclination of the current discourse of Altermedia for the neo-Nazi ideology, and thus indicates the fundamental antagonism between the founding editors and current one.

The main goal of my thesis is to characterize the conception of "Health in the framework of social discourse" by the means of data analysis and analysis of supporting documentation of explanatory reports of governmental bills regulating the fields of hygiene, preventive measures and health protection within Czech republic, focused mainly on the field of public healthcare system. Theoretical part attempts to picture the above stated matter in a social context of modern society, to point out the ideological connection of how well-being of an individual is perceived in a social system in terms of its function. The main subject of the analysis will be explanatory report regarding a historical First republic law No. 332/1920 Coll., explanatory notes from the communist era - Law. No. 4/1952 Coll. on hygienic and anti-epidemic care and law no. 20/1966 Coll., on public healthcare. The last analyzed era will be the era after year 1989, which will be represented by explanatory notes regarding law no. 258/2000 Coll., on protection of public health and law no. 372/2011 Coll., on healthcare services. The text analysis is based on Analysing discourse method combined with content quantitative method. Text of this thesis is divided to theoretical part, description of the methodology, historical overview of...