The purpose of this thesis was to uncover the tools of manipulation used within political discourses by governments in their attempt to maintain power in society. It specifically asked, How do Canadian federal governments manipulate security, risk, and threat discourses alongside their presentation and understanding of Canadian identity in throne speeches to justify the direction they intend to take the country in with their mandate? This thesis used Critical Discourse Analysis methods to analyze fourteen federal majority government speeches from the throne during the rise and fall of social welfare in Canada. Findings highlight that governments have relatively consistently used the combination of security, risk, and threat discourses between 1935 and 2015. Canadian identity has also been shown to be malleable to government priorities, being connected to notions of collectivism during the rise of social welfare and individualization and productivity during the implementation of neoliberal principles. The introduction of the promise of job creation within the speeches was found to correlate with the introduction of neoliberal principles in Canada. These findings highlight the importance of critical understanding of dominant discourses in society in order to overcome the power they can impose over non-dominant groups. / Thesis / Master of Social Work (MSW)

Thesis (Ph.D.) - Swinburne University of Technology - 2001. / Submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, School of Business, Swinburne University of Technology - 2001. Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (p. 360-372).

The present dissertation examines social stratification, as well as social inequality and its reproduction through government textual representations in a community in the outskirts of Mexico City: Ciudad Satélite. Using a Critical Discourse Analysis approach and interdisciplinary methodological tools, this study defines the type(s) and salient features of discourse used in government written communication in Cd. Satélite, as well as how some discursive strategies operate. The objective of the analysis is to illuminate how citizens interpret government communication in the subject community, and to illustrate how the Plain Language campaign has impacted such community. Chapter I demarcates the analytical background and guidelines, and it reviews several studies that focus on oral and written discourse in order to establish the basis of the communicative relationship between citizen and government. It also explains the relation of the subject community to the structure of the Mexican government. Chapter II provides a detailed description of Ciudad Satélite, the corpus and the surveyed citizens, and it also establishes the relation to the analytical guidelines. It also explains the methods used for the collection of linguistic and graphic data, and it demarcates how data was sorted and coded. The data analyses are in Chapters III and IV. Chapter III broaches linguistic accessibility of government written communication through a quantitative analysis of readability indexes as a way to shed light on accessibility of government documents. It explains the terminology, significant markers of readability and how they relate to each other. It then explores readability levels of documents, tasks, and government offices, and how and which particular social groups interact with texts using variables such as gender, age, education, occupation and identity. Chapter IV takes a multimodal approach of salient identified modes through qualitative and quantitative approaches. It considers citizens’ reaction to semiotic data and incorporates their responses in the analysis, which aim to describe the political representations in the linguistic landscape of the subject community and how citizens perceive such representations. This chapter also explores the type of persuasion used by government in the subject community through specific graphic images. Chapter V provides a discussion of all relevant data that aims towards explaining how certain meanings are perceived and thus created and maintained in the government-citizen text interaction. It explores accessibility of government linguistic resources considering readability indexes, modal representations and symbolic power, in order to show the unequal access to institutionally controlled linguistic resources. / Spanish

This thesis explores the role of rap music as a platform for articulating anti-government discourse in Turkey between 2014 and 2019. Employing Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis (MCDA) to examine two specific rap songs from the period – Rant Hilafeti (The Caliphate of Profit) by Ozbi and #SUSAMAM (#ICANNOTBESILENT) by Şanışer and eighteen other artists –, the study delves into how the various commodities forming rap music – lyrics, visuals, and musical sounds – collaborate to construct and convey this counter-hegemonic narrative. The thesis posits that rap music gained prominence during this period as a powerful tool for dissent, owing to its ability to resonate with marginalised groups and challenge the dominant narratives propagated by the government. Leveraging CDA and MCDA methodologies, the analysis exposes how the songs utilise linguistic, musical, and visual strategies to critique government policies, challenge authority figures, and galvanise resistance among listeners. The findings underscore the significance of rap music as a form of political expression and its influence on public discourse. The analysis highlights rap's capacity to bridge individual experiences with broader societal issues, fostering a sense of collective identity and resistance among marginalised communities. By examining the specific case of rap music, the thesis contributes to a broader understanding of the nexus between music and social movements in the Turkish contemporary political landscapes.