Historical, ideological, social aspects in the formation of the American political discourse and its manipulative potential
https://doi.org/10.26907/2658-3321.2021.4.4.537-549
Keywords:
political discourse, manipulation, persuasion, history, ideology, The United StatesAbstract
American political discourse has a significant impact on people around the world and has enormous manipulative potential in the current system of world relations. This fact gives us reason to assert that the subject is relevant. Persuasion is the main goal of communication in the political discourse space. This feature of political discourse directly affects the choice of linguistic units.A large background knowledge of the culture and political system of the United States is required in order to understand the implicit meanings and purpose of the sender of the information contained in the lexical units of the political text. The article provides an analysis of the US historical, ideological and social background as a precondition and indication of the high manipulative potential of the American political discourse. History and ideology are considered as an integral part of the linguistic consciousness. The key factors are highlighted: the uniqueness of the historical development (the first attempt at building a nationwide democracy was carried out in North America), establishment of parliamentarism (the need for public competition among elites),close connection between the formation of political institutions and religious dogmas (sacralization of political institutions and all national history), the development of capitalism and, as a result, imperialist ambitions (transformation into a superpower and the need for legitimization in the mass consciousness of an aggressive policy), multinational population (demand for political correctness).
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