APSA Methods Studio Workshop: Textual Analysis and Critical Semiotics. August 31, 2016 Matt Guardino Providence College

Transcription

1 APSA Methods Studio Workshop: Textual Analysis and Critical Semiotics August 31, 2016 Matt Guardino Providence College

2 Agenda: Analyzing political texts at the borders of (American) political science & communication/media studies Critical semiotic analysis in the British cultural studies tradition (as a species of critical discourse analysis) Two examples of critical semiotic analysis in practice (Clinton and Trump)

3 Textual Analysis in Political Communication & Media Studies U.S. political communication research (as part of political science) is almost entirely a quantitative (positivistic?) field (content analysis, surveys, experiments) Communication & media studies as a broader field is more multi-theoretical and multi-methodological Critical and discursive approaches to textual analysis in various forms comprise an important (though subordinate) part of this field How I navigate the epistemological-methodological pitfalls: critical realism (Bhaskar 1979, Sayer 2010, Gorski 2013)

4 On Measuring vs. (and) Interpreting Qualitative textual analysis & quantitative content analysis have different (but complementary) goals And in communication & media studies different (and sometimes complementary) scholarly audiences Quantitative content analysis presupposes qualitative interpretation at each end of the process iterative approach

5 Figure 2-4: Specific Ideological Frames in Mainstream News Coverage of the Reagan Economic Plan Fed Government Programs (anti-) 27,5 Economic Stimulus (pro-) 23,2 Pro-Tax Cut (general) 15,1 Fed Government Programs (pro-) 12,5 Economic Stimulus (anti-plan) 7,8 N = 1, Percentage of Ideological Frames Source: Content analysis of network news & Associated Press stories circulated from January 1 through August 13, 1981.

6 (Critical) Semiotics in British Cultural Studies: Study of discourse (written, spoken, visual ) as a system of denotative & connotative signs Ideological critique is central (discourse as naturalization) Discourse <=> power relations (set apart from other forms of DA or LA that may elide inequalities & overstate free play of meaning)

7 Language is legislation, speech is its code. We do not see the power which is in speech because we don t see that all speech is a classification, and all classification is oppressive. Roland Barthes ( )

8 (Critical) Semiotics in British Cultural Studies: Study of discourse (written, spoken, visual ) as a system of denotative & connotative signs Ideological critique is central (discourse as naturalization) Discourse <=> power relations (set apart from other forms of DA or LA that may elide inequalities & overstate free play of meaning) Discourse <=> materiality (set apart from other forms of DA or LA based on hard social constructivism)

9 Semiotics: Definitions Signifiers: Representational figures with a physical form (e.g., written or spoken words or phrases, images within a TV news or advertising clip). Signifieds: Mental concepts referred to (or called forth) by signifiers. Signifiers and their relationships to signifieds are cultural conventions, and are ideological (i.e., historically contingent and politically contestable). Codes: Associative maps in human consciousness and broader culture that provide frameworks for interpreting signs. Codes have denotative ( literal or naturalized) and connotative (implicit, culturally conventional) dimensions. Signification: Ideologically charged process through which particular signifiers (connotatively) connect ( articulate ) with particular signifieds to produce meanings within specific codes.

10 Myth is the privation of history. Roland Barthes ( )

11

12 Example 1: There must be a simple, hard rule: Anyone who can work must go to work Our goal must be to liberate people and lift them from dependence to independence, from welfare to work. President Bill Clinton (1994 State of the Union Address)

13 A Schematic Model of Signification welfare dependence work independence Neoliberal-Paternalist Code (Soss, Fording, and Schram 2011)

14 Example 2: We will lead our country back to safety, prosperity, and peace. We will be a country of generosity and warmth. But we will also be a country of law and order. Donald Trump (2016 Republican National Convention)

15 Questions: Hall (p. 134) discusses how dominant cultural orders delimit the range of possible meanings likely to be read from any sign. Is meaning-making in discourse fixed or variable? To what extent is (should) CDA or semiotic interpretation (be) replicable? To what extent can apparently non-textual phenomena be read as political texts using CDA or semiotics? What is potentially gained or lost by this extension?

16 Questions: What are some challenges and opportunities of applying CDA or semiotic interpretation to visual, as opposed to verbal, texts? Is the translation of text to numbers epistemologically or theoretically (in)compatible with the close analysis of contextual meanings through forms of CDA or semiotics?

17 Critical Realism Neither Positivist Nor Ideographic: Observation is theory- and discourse-laden We are socially embedded: neutrality = (dangerous) fiction However. Observation is not reducible to theory, discourse or subjectivity there is a real world Interpretation is crucial, but primarily as a constituent in causal explanations Social explanation logically entails social critique (and staking political claims)

18 Critical Realist Ontology: Causal Tendencies (Real Mechanisms & Structures) Exercised Causal Tendencies Actualized Causal Tendencies Observed Evidence of Causal Tendencies (EMPIRICAL)