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

Background and Purpose. This PhD thesis is a qualitative research project using interpretive and socio-cultural theories in a case study design. It explores medical students’ beliefs about scientific knowledge and the nature of evidence as applied to medicine, at key transition points in their education. This thesis situates current theories and conceptual models of epistemological development from the fields of psychology and education within the emergent field of medical education. Its aim is to provide insights into personal epistemological development, any curriculum barriers to such and provide insights into how students can be better supported, notably in transition periods. It addresses both a gap in the literature and the calls for more research into the development of student epistemologies in professional education. The thesis key research questions are: • What are medical students’ beliefs and understandings about the nature of scientific knowledge as applied to medicine? • What curriculum factors appear to facilitate or inhibit medical students’ epistemological development, at key transitions? Methodology. The case study design involved a four phase approach; • Phase 1: This was a critical discourse analysis of key policy and curricula texts to explore assumptions, inconsistencies or disputes relating to science and scientific content in the field of medical education. • Phase 2: This was the observation of learning episodes in preparation for Phase 3 involving participants. The purpose of Phase 2 was to situate and ground conversations with participants in real experiences. • Phase 3: This phase involved task groups and semi-structured interviews with medical students and faculty participants based at the University of Exeter Medical School (UEMS). Task groups and semi-structured interviews explored individual beliefs about the nature of science and scientific evidence as applied to medicine generally and the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (BMBS) curriculum content specifically. This included its contested scientific content and the nature of complexity and uncertainty in evidence based medicine. • Phase 4: This final phase involved presenting the case study findings to two other UK medical schools to explore the tentative applicability or transferability. The purpose of Phase 4 was to consider how case-specific and context bound the case study findings are. Findings. Findings suggest there is substantial variation in how medical students and faculty talk about science and evidence in medicine. This is influenced by their experiences of courses studied prior to entering medical school and their maturity in age. Medical students described how faculty informally spoke about the ambiguity within medical practice as clinical decision making, but there were very few reports of faculty explicitly speaking about the uncertain and tentative nature of scientific knowledge underpinning applied medicine. The bio-sciences were still dominant in terms of curriculum and assessment content. Where science in medicine is defined and approaches to scientific research are stated, formal curriculum documents espouse a narrow and positivistic methodological approach, which serves to perpetuate misconceptions regarding scientific research within medicine and may influence epistemological beliefs about the nature of science within medicine. Discussion and Conclusions. It is anticipated this case study will afford medical educators and curriculum designers insights upon which to address imbalances, include appropriate content, and reinforce good practice, so that medical graduates are effectively prepared for the challenges of a career in medicine.

This study investigates the development of the subject of English in Swedish upper secondary schools through an analysis of the syllabi in the curricula Lgy 70, Lpf 94 and Lgy 11, with a focus on English teaching and learning. In the last 50 years, the Swedish upper secondary school has undergone three major reforms. These three reforms have had an impact on the ways of teaching the English subject. By employing Fairclough’s (1992a) three-dimensional model, the study finds that these three major reforms had an impact on English teaching and learning in terms of communicative competence and individualization and teachers’ roles. The finding is important because it indicates that the current upper secondary English classroom needs to be changed when it comes to teaching and learning methods.

The purpose of this study was to examine how the climate summits arranged by the UN in Kyoto 1997, Copenhagen 2009 and Paris 2015 was portrayed by the Swedish daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter. The purpose was also to examine how the problem of climate change was portrayed in the paper in conjunction with the above mentioned climate summits. This was done by using the method critical discourse analysis. A total of 39 articles published in Dagens Nyheter during the time of the different summits was thoroughly analyzed using the method. The results show that Climate change is consequently described as an important issue and a problem that could result in large consequences for the entire planet if the different negotiating parts at the summits could not reach an agreement. The negotiations are described as tough, with countries having big difficulties reaching an agreement. In articles from all three summits the negotiating parts will, or unwillingness, to cooperate and taking responsibility for the situation is described as a key factor in order for the summits to achieve success. However, the media discourse in Dagens Nyheter regarding what taking responsibllity actually means has changed between the different conferences. In the Kyoto-articles being a responsible actor for preventing climate change were described to act according to the line of action already established by the United Nations. However the articles from the meetings held in Copenhagen and Paris described responsibility as something that can only be performed within the political frameworks realm of possibllity.The results also show that solutions to the problem of climate change are described exclusively as something that needs to be done within a liberal economic framework. Economic growth is described as something necessary for countries to develop and humanity’s adjustments to climate change must therefore be done without disrupting the current economic balance too severely.

Esta tese visa analisar o discurso produzido pelo Jornal Nacional (JN) da TV Globo, no período entre abril de 2010 e outubro de 2013, sobre o tema da construção da usina hidrelétrica de Belo Monte de acordo com a perspectiva teórico-metodológica da Análise Crítica do Discurso (ACD) e da Ecolinguística, além de usar premissas jornalísticas, já que estas constituem as bases do corpus analisado. O discurso sobre Belo Monte aborda vários temas a partir do sentido simbólico da usina e têm grande apelo no imaginário social atualmente como a ecologia e a ocupação da Amazônia de forma predatória. Daí a necessidade de recorrer a outras fontes de consulta técnica que nos fornecessem subsídios teóricos para não ficarmos restritos ao discurso dominante. A partir da análise dessas notícias a pesquisa se posicionou para operar dentro de uma ciência com uma vasta gama de áreas implicadas no campo socioambiental (a biologia, a antropologia, a economia). Nossa intenção é mostrar como os interesses das elites se articulam em nome de valores como a democracia e a liberdade de expressão para controlar os discursos e as ideologias que são de seu interesse, cuja finalidade última é criar, estabilizar e legitimar formas de dominância e abuso do poder social. Baseados nos estudos de van Dijk (2005) assumimos que com esta investigação dissidente, os analistas do discurso tomam uma posição explícita e querem desta forma compreender, expor, e, em última análise, resistir à desigualdade social. Operamos dentro desta linha epistemológica que considera a relação entre o uso da linguagem e a construção de sentidos, já que o discurso constitui a sociedade e seus valores culturais, utilizando vários postulados teórico-metodológicos de van Dijk. Com o apoio da teoria dos atores sociais de van Leeuwen (1997) que especifica a forma de representação dos atores nas notícias, foi possível estabelecer um ponto de partida dentro da ACD que possibilitou fazer a relação entre as notícias e o uso dos recursos léxicogramaticais que evidenciassem como são formadas as estratégias linguísticas que carregam em seu bojo ideologias que não estão alinhadas ao interesse da sociedade. Pretendemos que, ao final, o resultado esteja inserido no campo da Ecolinguística, que compreende todas as ciências aqui descritas e as unifica sob uma orientação holística, cuja base constitutiva é a relação de respeito e ética entre os homens e destes com a natureza, ressaltando que esta não possui voz própria. Portanto, é de fundamental importância descrever os processos semântico-pragmáticos utilizados pelo discurso telejornalístico, que buscam legitimar a dominação do homem sobre a natureza. O debate está aberto, e há uma pressa na construção e na apropriação do discurso ambiental. Por se tratar de um discurso novo, o discurso socioambiental nos oferece o privilégio de fazer o seu estudo e análise em um momento histórico difícil de ser repetido, considerando que não surgem novas grandes linhas de debates e temas discursivos com frequência. Dadas às fortes implicações socioeconômicas e dos impactos que uma formação discursiva ambiental veiculada por um órgão jornalístico do porte do JN possa acarretar, parece-nos oportuno apresentar um trabalho cuja contribuição é a de abrir novas perspectivas no debate que é a marca do nosso tempo e que já está sendo travado no campo discursivo-ideológico da Ecolinguística, para decidir se adotamos uma postura eco ou antropocêntrica. / This thesis aims to analyze the discourse produced by TV Globo\'s Jornal Nacional (JN) between April 2010 and October 2013, on the topic of the hydroelectric plant being constructed at Belo Monte. For this purpose, the analysis adopts the theoretical and methodological perspectives of Critical Discourse Analysis (hereafter: CDA) and Ecolinguistics, besides using journalistic methods, the latter considered to be germane to the analyzed corpus. In the discourse surrounding the Belo Monte dam, various topics are discussed from the perspective of the plants symbolic meaning, such, as, for instance, questions of ecology and the predatory occupation of the Amazon topics with great appeal to current social imagination. Therefore, there is a need to resort to other sources of technical expertise in order to provide the theoretical wherewithal that will prevent the dialogue initiated by CDA from restricting itself to the dominant discourse. Analytically, the present research is positioned to operate within a science with a wide range of areas involved in the environmental field (biology, anthropology, economics). The present work intends to show how elite interests are articulated in the name of values such as democracy and freedom of expression, but actually aiming to control the relevant discourses and ideologies whose ultimate purpose is to create, stabilize and legitimize forms of dominance and abuse of social power. Based on studies by van Dijk, it is advocated that through such dissident research, discourse analysts take explicit position, and thus want to understand, expose, and ultimately resist social inequality\" (van Dijk 2005). Within this epistemological line of thinking, the relationship between language use and the construction of meaning is particularly targeted, since discourse constitutes society and its cultural values. Guided by van Leeuwens (1997) theory of social agents, which specifies the form of representation of the actors in the news, it was possible to establish a CDA-inspired starting point for analyzing the relationship between the news and the use of lexical and grammatical resources. The analysis shows how the various agents form the linguistic strategies, which harbor ideologies that are not consonant with the interests of society at large. At the end of the day, we want our results to be brought to bear on the field of Ecolinguistics, which comprises all the sciences referred to above, unifying them under a holistic orientation, based on the respect and ethical attitudes that should characterize the relationship between humans and nature. In particular, since nature does not have a voice of its own, it is of fundamental importance to describe the semantic-pragmatic processes used in the discourse of television news, as it seeks to legitimize the domination of humans over nature, often to the detriment of the humans themselves. The debates have already started, and the various participants are rushing to construct and appropriate the current environmental discourse, which, being new, offers the privilege of carrying out research and analysis at an historical juncture that will be difficult to replicate, considering that major new directions do not often appear in debates. Given the large socioeconomic impact and environmental implications that a discursive formation conveyed by a journalistic medium with the outreach of JN is apt to carry, it seems appropriate to present a study aiming at opening new perspectives in the debates that are the hallmark of our times debates which already are raging in the ideological-discursive field of Ecolinguistics, and that are crucial when it comes to deciding which way to go: adopting an anthropocentric position versus identifying with an ecologically responsible world-view.

Este trabalho tem por objetivo buscar, no discurso de Diogo Mainardi, regularidades que nos permitam reconhecer a construção de um modelo mental específico de representação do Presidente da República, Luis Inácio Lula da Silva, e de integrantes do Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT). O corpus compreende três crônicas, publicadas na Revista VEJA no período entre junho de 2006 e janeiro de 2007, Alicerçamos nossos estudos na Teoria Sociocognitiva e na Análise Crítica do Discurso (ACD), a partir do que indica Teun van Dijk (1983; 1991; 2004; 2005). Nossa pesquisa concluiu que Mainardi, por meio de manipulação contextual e da atribuição de características socialmente desfavoráveis, como corrupção, incompetência, incapacidade crítica e apego à noção de povo/popular, cria um modelo mental negativo do Presidente Lula e de integrantes do PT. / The aim of this work is to identify, in the discourse of Diogo Mainardi, patterns that might allow us to recognize the construction of a specific mental model of representation of the President of the Federal Republic of Brazil, Luis Inácio Lula da Silva, and of members of the Workers Party (PT). The corpus contains three chronicles published in the VEJA magazine, between June 2006 and January 2007. We based our studies on the principles of the Social Cognitive Theory and the Critical Discourse Analysis, as defined in the writings of Teun A. van Dijk (1983; 1991; 2004; 2005). Through our research, we come to the conclusion that Mainardi created a negative mental model of President Lula and of the members of PT, by using contextual manipulation and unfavorable social characteristics, such as corruption, incompetence, critical incapacity and attachment to the notion of people/popular.

O presente trabalho tem como proposta estudar os efeitos de sentido produzidos pelo emprego de metáforas discursivas, enquanto escolhas linguísticas contextualizadas culturalmente e transmissoras de ideologia, como estratégia argumentativa construtora de significado. Além de constituírem estratégia argumentativa de eficácia já comprovada por estudiosos como Perelman e Olbrechts-Tyteca (2005 [1958]), as metáforas podem também revelar valores e ideologias, pois, como dizem Lakoff e Johnson (2002[1980]), nosso sistema conceptual é basicamente metafórico, portanto, nosso pensamento é metaforicamente estruturado e sua manifestação através da enunciação é reveladora da relação que temos com o mundo. Neste estudo, em que se procede à análise de pronunciamentos e entrevistas de Fernando Collor de Mello, por se tratar de análise do discurso político, optou-se ainda por utilizar como abordagem teórico-metodológica a Análise Crítica do Discurso (ACD), conforme proposta de Fairclough (1997), instrumento de estudo da linguagem como prática social, forma de ação sobre o mundo. O objetivo é fazer um estudo crítico no intuito de desvendar a maneira pela qual alguém exerce o controle sobre uma ocasião social através das formas linguísticas que emprega (WODAK, 2004). As Teorias da Metáfora e a Análise Crítica do Discurso encontram seu ponto de convergência na proposta teórica de Charteris-Black (2004), a Análise Crítica da Metáfora. Definida por seu autor como uma abordagem semânticocognitiva que analisa criticamente metáforas presentes em discursos e manifestos políticos para evidenciar sua importância como veículo da ideologia no discurso de áreas em que influenciar julgamentos é um objetivo central, a ACM (Análise Crítica da Metáfora) foi incluída nessa pesquisa dada a sua pertinência no estudo das escolhas metafóricas de Fernando Collor de Mello. Foram selecionadas algumas formulações discursivas atribuídas ao referido político, ex-presidente da República do Brasil e atual senador pelo estado de Alagoas, amostras que, acredita-se, retratam momentos diversos de sua atribulada trajetória política, ilustrando o teor de sua relação com o poder. A hipótese é que as metáforas nelas utilizadas sejam reveladoras de aspectos cognitivos, culturais e ideológicos da visão de mundo de Fernando Collor, constituam sua identidade e sejam eficientes estratégias argumentativas, visto que se estabelecem como forma de ação e interação persuasiva em um meio social. A análise do corpus permitiu observar que Collor, por meio da linguagem metafórica que emprega em seus discursos, frequentemente apela à emoção e ao imaginário de seus interlocutores na tentativa de construir uma identidade de força e combatividade e de fazê-los aderirem às suas ideias; torna, assim, suas manifestações discursivas em fértil campo de estudo sobre transmissão de ideologia e habilidade argumentativa. / This work proposes to study the effects of meaning produced by the use of discursive metaphors, while culturally contextualized linguistic choices and ideology transmitters, as an argumentative strategy of meaning construction. In addition to being an argumentative strategy whose effectiveness was already proven by scholars such as Perelman and Olbrechts- Tyteca (2005 [1958]), metaphors can also reveal values and ideologies, because, according to Lakoff and Johnson (2002 [1980]), our conceptual system is basically metaphorical, so our thought is metaphorically structured and its manifestation through language use may reveal our relationship with the world. In this political discourse study, which carries out the analysis of some of Fernando Collor de Mellos speeches and interviews, the option was to use Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) as a theoretical and methodological approach proposed by Fairclough (1997), an instrument for language study as social practice, action over the world, therefore. The goal is to make a critical study in order to reveal how one exerts control over a social occasion through linguistic forms he employs. (Wodak, 2004). Metaphor Theories and Critical Discourse Analysis find their point of convergence in Charteris-Black (2004) theoretical proposal, Critical Metaphor Analysis. Defined by its author as a semanticcognitive approach that critically examines metaphors in political speeches and manifestos to highlight its importance as a vehicle of ideology in areas where influencing judgments is a central discourse goal, CMA (Critical Metaphor Analysis) was included in this research given its relevance in the study of Fernando Collor de Mello metaphorical choices. Some discursive formulations assigned to that politician, former Brazils president and current senator for the state of Alagoas, were selected, samples believed to depict different moments of his eventful political career, illustrating the content of his relationship with power. The hypothesis is that metaphors used in them are indicative of Fernando Collors cognitive, cultural and ideological worldview, constitute his identity and work as efficient argumentative strategies, since they set themselves as ways of persuasive action and interaction in a social environment. Corpus analysis helped identify that Collor, by employing metaphorical language in his speeches, often appeals to his counterparts emotion and imagination, in an attempt to build an identity of force and toughness and to make them adhere to his ideas, thus turning his discursive manifestations into a fertile field of study on ideology transmission and argumentative skills.

Este trabalho se propõe a investigar e descrever as relações entre metadiscursividade e persuasão, algo que, embora comumente mencionado nos estudos acerca do metadiscurso, ainda não foi devidamente explicado. Para tal, assumimos como hipótese para a pesquisa o ponto de vista de acordo com o qual tais expressões exercem papel de grande destaque, em especial nos contextos em que se verifica polemicidade na interação, como procedimentos verbais que ancoram o desenvolvimento de estratégias argumentativas, tanto no que se refere às provas objetivas da argumentação, aqui representadas pelo conjunto das estratégias argumentativas inventariadas por Perelman e Olbrechts-Tyteca (1996), quanto no que diz respeito às provas subjetivas, especialmente a constituição do ethos discursivo. Consideramos, para isso, a metadiscursividade enquanto estratégia de referenciação, um recurso textual-interativo caracterizado por instituir o próprio discurso enquanto objetode- discurso. Por seu turno, a linguagem é vista como forma de ação, espaço privilegiado em que os protagonistas situam-se em relação aos outros e, inseridos em um determinado contexto social, histórico e cognitivo, buscam influenciar, de alguma maneira, seus interlocutores. Paralelamente, tomando por pressuposto os estudos desenvolvidos sob a Análise Crítica do Discurso, propomos analisar o papel assumido pelos procedimentos metadiscursivos na constituição do exercício do poder e controle interacional. A fim de alcançar os objetivos propostos, assumimos como embasamento para a pesquisa, além da Retórica, algumas linhas teóricas, propriamente a Análise da Conversação, a Sociolingüística Interacional, a Lingüística Textual todas estas englobadas pela Perspectiva Textual-Interativa e Análise Crítica do Discurso. Colocadas nesta ordem, buscamos sustentar que tais correntes, em um processo de complementação, associam-se umas às outras, estabelecendo uma espécie de continuum teórico, a partir de um eixo baseado na Teoria da Ação Social, capital para o entendimento da linguagem enquanto forma de ação, e do conhecimento como um sistema central compartilhado pelos interactantes. O corpus utilizado constitui-se de duas entrevistas concedidas durante o ano de 2004 ao Programa Roda Viva, uma com José Serra e outra com Marta Suplicy, ambos candidatos à Prefeitura de São Paulo, devidamente transcritas de acordo com as normas estabelecidas pelo Projeto NURC. / This work aims at investigating and describing the relations between metadiscoursivity and persuasion, point not properly scrutinized in spite of being often mentioned in metadiscourse-related studies. In order to do so, this research hypothetically bases upon the relevance of such expressions especially in contexts which turn out to present polemicity in the interaction, such as verbal procedures situating the development of argumentative strategies, both in terms of objective evidences of the argumentation, being held here by the set of argumentative strategies arranged by Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca (1996), and in relation to the subjective evidences, especially the constitution of the discursive ethos. It is a major assumption the notion of metadiscourse as a strategy of referenciation, an interactive textual means which instantiates the discourse itself as an object of discourse. In its turn, the language itself is regarded as a form of action, a privileged space in which protagonists situate themselves with respect to others and, as part of a certain cognitive, historical, social context, wish to exercise their influence on interlocutors. It is also taken into consideration Critical Discourse Analysis-oriented studies in order to analyze the role of metadiscursive procedure in the constitution of exercises of power and interactional control. In addition to these fundamentals, the investigation also comprises, besides Rhetoric, theoretical lines of approach of the Conversation Analysis, Interactional Sociolinguistics, Discourse Analysis (Textual Linguistics), encompassed in the Interactive Perspective Theory and Critical Discourse Analysis. It is assumed that such theoretical chains are closely related in a complementary fashion, instituting a kind of theoretical continuum grounded on an axis related to the Theory of Action, seen as a key notion to the understanding of language as a form of action and knowledge as a central system shared by interactants. The analyzed corpus consists of two interviews of the Roda Viva Television Program featured in 2004, transcribed according to the NURC Projects transcripts. The interviewees are two opponent candidates running the São Paulos City Hall namely José Serra and Marta Suplicy.

A presente dissertação tem por objetivo geral amparar filosoficamente a Análise Crítica do Discurso de linha sociocognitiva proposta por van Dijk. Neste contexto, busca-se identificar a articulação do lógos através de metáforas geométricas do discurso, presentes na Teoria Multidisciplinar da Ideologia e na Teoria do Contexto desse autor, com a tradição filosófica da linguagem representada pela metáfora das ondas do discurso, presentes na obra a Vertente Grega da Gramática Tradicional, de Maria Helena de Moura Neves, e nas reflexões do Círculo de Bakhtin. Os objetivos específicos são a depreensão da representação da Ordem Social brasileira pelo Supremo Tribunal Federal e do éthos do STF através da análise do discurso de notícias publicadas por este ator social a respeito da ADPF 54. Entre os achados mais significativos, identificamos a articulação feita por van Dijk do triângulo para a instância social do discurso, o quadrado como a referência da instância do texto, e um movimento em círculos concêntricos para referir-se ao objeto do discurso. O STF refere-se ao movimento social como correntes e projetou um éthos conciliador no sentido de permitir que correntes contrarias entre si pudessem propagar as ondas do seu discurso dentro e fora do Supremo. / The present dissertation has the primary goal to philosophically support the socio-cognitive line of the Critical Discourse Analysis proposed by van Dijk. In this context, we seek to identify the lógos articulation through the discourses geometric metaphors, introduced on The Multidisciplinary approach of Ideology and Theory of Context by this author, and the philosophic tradition of language represented by the waves of discourse metaphor presented on the work Vertente Grega da Gramática Tradicional by Maria Helena de Moura Neves and theBakhtin Circles thoughts. The specific goals are to apprehend the Brazilian Social Order representation by its Federal Supreme Court (STF, from the portuguese) and the STFs éthos through the discourse analysis of news published by this social actor with respect to ADPF 54 process. Among the most significant findings, we identified the articulation done by van Dijk of the triangle by the social discourse instance, the square as the reference of the text instance, and a movement in concentric circles to refer to the object of discourse. The STF refers to the social movement as chains and projected a conciliatory éthos in the sense of allowing that chains opposed to each other could propagate their waves of discourse inside and outside the Brazilian Supreme Court.

This thesis aims to examine secondary school teachers understanding concerning the terms race and whiteness, and how perceptions of the terms interrelates with the democratic values and duties assigned to the teachers of the Swedish educational system. Semi-structured qualitative research interviews were used to gather data and critical discourse analysis to process it. Results show that the terms race and whiteness respectively are intertwined with historical context, adding dimensions of utility and shortcomings when used. These dimensions are taking into consideration among the interviewed teachers and reflected upon. The thesis concludes that although the terms have given functions to explaining racism and structural injustice, consideration has to be made in respect to the Swedish historical context when used.