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0ФИЛОЛОГИЯ
(шифр научной специальности: 5.9.8)
Научная статья УДК 81
doi: 10.18522/2070-1403-2023-101-6-141-145
АМЕРИКАНСКОЕ ПОЛИТИЧЕСКОЕ ДИСКУРСИВНОЕ ПРОСТРАНСТВО: КУЛЬТУРНО-ИСТОРИЧЕСКИЕ ПРЕДПОСЫЛКИ
© Екатерина Анатольевна Редкозубова1, Диана Залимовна Абдурахманова2
12Южный федеральный университет, г. Ростов-на-Дону, Россия 1kateredkozubova@mail. ru 2dianazalimovna@mail. ru
Аннотация. Анализируются исторические и культурные предпосылки, определяющие особенности американского политического дискурса. Раскрывается роль политического дискурса в современном коммуникативном пространстве. Показано, что кроме собственно лингвистических факторов на формирование американского политического пространства значительное влияние оказали парадигма политкорректности и особенности моде -ли американской демократии. Значимость такого рода исследований определяется необходимостью теоретиче -ского осмысления точек соприкосновения лингвистики, культурологии, политологии.
Ключевые слова: американский политический дискурс, манипуляция, английский язык. Для цитирования: Редкозубова Е.А., Абдурахманова Д.З. Американское политическое дискурсивное пространство: культурно-исторические предпосылки // Гуманитарные и социальные науки. 2023. Т. 101. № 6. С. 141-145. doi: 10.18522/2070-1403-2023-101-6-141-145
PHILOLOGY
(specialty: 5.9.8)
Original article
Modern American political discourse space: historical and cultural background
© Ekaterina A. Redkozubova1, Diana Z. Abdurakhmanova2
12Southern federal university, Rostov-on-Don, Russian Federation 1kateredkozubova@mail.ru 2dianazalimovna@mail.ru
Abstract. The historical and cultural background defining the features of American political discourse is analyzed. The role of political discourse in the modern communicative space is revealed. It is shown that in addition to the linguistic factors themselves, the paradigm of political correctness and the features of the model of Ameri -can democracy had a significant impact on the formation of the American political space. The importance of this kind of research is determined by the need for a theoretical understanding of the points of contact of linguistics, cultural studies, and political science.
Key words: American political discourse, manipulation, English.
For citation: Redkozubova Е.А., Abdurakhmanova D.Z. Modern american political discourse space: historical and cultural background. The Humanities and Social Sciences. 2023. Vol. 101. No 6. P. 141-145. doi: 10.18522/20701403-2023-101-6-141-145
Political discourse represents a sufficient part of the general communicative space in different cultures [3]. Politics does not exist outside of human activity, various ways of interaction of its carriers, as well as communication processes that link, guide, and innovate socio- political life. Political communication acts as a kind of socio-informational field of politics, representing processes of information exchange, transmission of political information, structuring political activity and giving it a new meaning.
The communicative approach by which manipulation was integrated into the system of categories of politics, allowed to establish the form used by the authorities in the expansion areas of control. In other words, the reason why the government is forced to resort to manipulation is its own
expansionism. With the expansion of power space in modern societies, imperative methods of political influence are necessarily supplemented communicative, increasing the dependence of society on the power and political infrastructure.
The interest of linguists in the problem of political discourse and speech manipulation, its impact on mass consciousness, as well as the lack of knowledge in this field determines the relevance of the ongoing study.
The communicative activity of the authorities organically coincides with financial and economic interests of the media, verbalizing and interpreting life events to embed the political component in the picture of the world. The authorities use the media as a tool of manipulation resonance, providing themselves with the necessary scale of communication with society. Thus, the media plays an important role in modern society, being a strong resource used by politicians, contributing to the creation of such a phenomenon as political language.
The study of historical, ideological and social factors determining the American discursive political space formation, as well as the manipulative potential of its texts, seem relevant to us in connection with the role the United States plays in modern international political arena.
Since any discursive space is an area of social interaction verbalized by linguistic means, it is possible to assume that political discourse is able to largely determine the trends in the society, and also play a crucial role in public institutions.
The traditions of English political discourse are based on the peculiarities of political systems, the dynamics of which contributed to the change and development in political communi -cation in order to improve openness and demonstrativeness. As an example, we should mention the model of parliamentarism established in the United States against the background of revolutionary transformations due to the War of Independence in 1776, which includes, in particular, public debates. The formation of the model of American democracy was served by specific historical and cultural conditions. Thus, the federal government was created by the states, which for many years were colonies with a high degree of autonomy. This contributed to the establishment of such a political system in the United States, which is primarily characterized by ideological flexibility and lack of strict party discipline [1].
According to E.I. Sheigal, the more open and democratic the life of society is, the more attention is paid to the language of politics [5] and, in particular, its manipulative potential within the framework of American political discourse. Consequently, such a key tool in a democratic society is the conscious and reasonable manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses. A modern political leader should have a good understanding of propaganda technologies, know the political economics and civil law, because only with the help of skillful propaganda the US government will not be able to keep in touch with its people.
The formation and development of movements for the rights of women, ethnic and sexual minorities are logically integrated into the American socio-cultural system, influencing, in particular, the political language of the United States. Thus, the prerequisites for the introduction of political correctness paradigm began to appear in the late XIX - early XX centuries together with increasing interest in socialism (which seemed extremely attractive to the poor) and support for oppressed social groups (the idea of internationalism). In the mid-20th century, the growth of African Americans was seen as a counter-measure in response to the traditional racial discrimination.
From the 1950s to the 1970s, a series of lawsuits led to the abolition of legally sanctioned racial segregation in most states. It is obvious that everything that falls into the field of practical application of political correctness can be the subject of political discussion, i.e. manipulation of public opinion.
On the other hand, the paradigm of political correctness has a profound impact on the language of American politicians, contributing to significant changes in the vocabulary of the English language. Studies of male and female speech peculiarities became urgent decades ago and they still are [6]
The great importance of religious dogmas associated with the formation of sacred symbols should be pointed out, as they influenced the creation of political institutions. Biblical principles have become fundamental to American democratization and the establishment of parliamen-
tarism. The explanation that everyone is inherently sinful, and the power of one is unacceptable, became the driving force in the creation of a republican system characterized by the separation of powers, as well as in the formation of a federal model that allows individual states to restrain the ambitions of the central government.
The ideological justification of the American state formation contributed to the fact that the policy of the institutions themselves and the entire national history throughout the existence of the United States were sacralized. In other words, the American civil religion as a sacred non-confessional structure integrating society and the value system that establishes, and became the ideological basis of the state, legitimizing its power in the mass consciousness.
American civil religion, political, social and cultural novelty inherent in the newly formed democratic system contributed to the cultivation of the idea of being the "chosen people" of the United States, fulfilling a special, messianic role of the guardian of the values of freedom and democracy throughout the world. The idea of the superiority of the United States over a certain hostile force has become especially popular in American political discourse after the government of the state has embarked on more active actions in the foreign policy arena, provoked by the growth of political and economic ambitions of the financial elite.
A.R. Mukhamatshin notes that in the American picture of the world, such a type of personality as "Homodemocraticus" is welcomed, whose norms of behavior in society correspond to democratic ideals [2]. He not only recognizes equality in society and deeply respects the views of other people that differ from his own, but also considers their mistakes permissible, explaining them with their lesser degree of awareness [2]. Thus, "Homodemocraticus" believes that the majority of society, to whom it belongs, can be generous towards the minority, and the minority, in turn, is loyal to the majority. His worldview is largely based on the belief in generally accepted benevolence. The homodemocratic personality type is characterized by advanced intelligence and imagination necessary for empathy and the search for effective compromises. He also believes in rational dialogue and has the courage to participate in it, as a democratic discussion it means having the privilege to publicly express one's opinion and be recognized.
In other words, the main key features that characterize the behavior of the subject of democracy, are:
1. respect for other people;
2. error recognition;
3. recognition of the rightness of other persons;
4. generosity, loyalty, benevolent attitude towards others;
5. the desire to reach mutual understanding, agreement on compromise;
6. readiness for dialogue [2].
The economic crisis of the American state, which broke out in 1893 and lasted for five years, led the US government to the need to search for new markets abroad. That crisis was the starting point of fundamental changes in US domestic and foreign policy.
At the turn of the XIX and XX centuries, the fleet is rapidly developing in the USA, contributing to the establishment of dominance in the adjacent ocean waters. Consistently, the American state, in fact, moves to building an empire, implementing a policy of colonial expansion and gradually displacing the European colonial powers. By 1900 the territory of the US has increased tenfold, which once again confirms the expansionist nature of American policy.
The participation of the USA in the First World War allowed them, as one of the victorious countries, to take part in the post-war influence on the world order on a par with Great Britain and France, and thereby get a pass ticket, in particular, into European politics.
Participation in World War II allowed the United States to achieve decisive superiority and become the flagship of the Western world, the main capitalist superpower. According to the statistics given by V.V. Shishkov, by the end of hostilities, the United States owned about 60% global industrial production and about 61% of commercial marine fleet [4].
Nevertheless, the Soviet Union and other socialist countries of the world were seen as a threat to the American state. It is not surprising that during the Cold War, i.e. the confrontation between
the two world superpowers, the use of the image of the enemy and its demonization became especially popular in the political discourse of the United States. So, since the second half of the XX century, the concept of "communism" has been fundamentally used in a negative light in the political discourse of the United States against the background of irreconcilable ideological contradictions between the two systems.
In the post-war period research centers were established on the basis of leading universities in the United States engaged in ideological and analytical support of US foreign policy, since the government of the American state saw the need, on the one hand, to strengthen the primacy of liberalism in the mass consciousness, the main exponent of which it is, and, on the other hand, the legitimization of increased expansionist aspirations in foreign policy.
Representatives of the modernization theory, G. Almond, S.M. Lipset, At. Rostow, S. Huntington and their followers encouraged the understanding of the liberal democratic development of the market as a universal standard.
At the same time, in the early 1950s, the totalitarianism concept was introduced into American and European political discourse, used to emphasize and, accordingly, criticize the similar features of the fascist and communist states, namely: idealism, linearity in the institution of government, etc. So thus, gradually the ideological concept of totalitarianism, in fact, began to be replaced by the concepts of despotism, dictatorship and tyranny, opposed to democracy as the highest ideal of statehood.
And today, everything that does not correspond to the interests of the American political elite is evaluated by means of these concepts, acting as a password in the "friend-foe" system when determining partners or enemies of the American state.
Thus, the historical development of the Institute of American has led to a complication of the mechanism of political influence and an increase in the importance of manipulation as a type of influence on the audience. In fact, the United States has replaced direct imperative influence and physical violence with manipulation, which has become the dominant management technology, undoubtedly having a strong influence on the political language and norms of political communication.
Список источников
1. Филиппова М.А. Идеологический концепт «демократия» (на материале лингвокультуры США) // Автореф. дис. на соиск. учен. степ. канд. филол. наук. Волгоград, 2007.
2. Мухаматшин А.Р. Исторический, идеологический, социальный аспекты в формировании американского политического дискурса и его манипулятивного потенциала // Казанский лингвистический журнал. 2021. Т. 4. № 4. С. 537-549.
3. Редкозубова Е.А. Modern Communicative Space: Approaches to Description. - URL: http://hses-online.ru/2017/05/16.pdf (дата обращения 10.10.2023).
4. Тамерьян Т.Ю., Попова Т.Г., Редкозубова Е.А., Аникеева И.Г., Седлярова О.М., Соловьёва Н.С. Feminine Perspective of Ethnic Business Communication // Espacios: Sociacion de Profesionales y Tecnicos del CONICIT Vol. 40 (Number 34), 2019. P. 18-28. - URL: http://www.revistaespacios.com/a19v40n34/a19v40n34p18.pdf (дата обращения 10.10.2023).
5. Шейгал Е.И. Семиотика политического дискурса. Волгоград: Перемена, 2000. 367 с.
6. Шишков В.В. Становление и развитие гегемонии США: имперское доминирование и глобализация в XX в. - URL: https://www.socionauki.ru/journal/files/vg/2014_1/133-146.pdf?ysclid=lb11m3ohpc345486772 (дата обращения 10.10.2023).
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Статья поступила в редакцию 02.11.2023; одобрена после рецензирования 20.11.2023; принята к публикации 20.11.2023.
The article was submitted 02.11.2023; approved after reviewing 20.11.2023; accepted for publication 20.11.2023.
