Making Sense of Political Ideology: The Power of Language in Democracy

Front Cover
Rowman & Littlefield, 2005 - Language Arts & Disciplines - 149 pages
Political positions in the United States today are ideologically chaotic, and there are significant prices to pay for that chaos. The nation has not reached a crisis yet in her modern political gridlock, but predicting the time when the current generation will face the difficulties of earlier times of crisis such as the Civil War, the Great Depression, or World War II is a difficult task. When that time comes, leaders who can communicate effectively to foster understanding and political unity and who can respond to a crisis with skilled direction will be a vital concern. Making Sense of Political Ideology explores the erosion of ties among ideology, language, and political action. Analyzing political language strategies, it shows how to dissect language so we can better understand a speaker's ideology. The authors define four political positions radical, liberal, conservative, reactionary and apply their techniques to contemporary issues such as the war on terrorism. They emphasize the dangers of staying trapped in political gridlock with no consensus for governmental direction and propose that the ability to identify and bridge positions can help political communicators toward constructing coalitions and building support for political action."
 

Contents

Ideological Chaos and Political Gridlock Political Communication in the Early Twentyfirst Century
1
Political Ideology and Democracy
37
Political Positions and American Politics
67
Rhetorical Strategies and the Four Political Positions
81
Beyond the Political Chaos Where Are We Going?
109
Bibliography
133
Index
141
About the Authors
Copyright

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

About the author (2005)

Bernard L. Brock is professor emeritus at Wayne State University and author of several books on rhetorical analysis and Burkean theory. Mark E. Huglen is assistant professor of communication at the University of Minnesota at Crookston, and author of several books on rhetorical theory. James F. Klumpp is professor of communication at the University of Maryland. Sharon Howell is chair of the Department of Communication at Oakland University.