Mulderrig, J.M. orcid.org/0000-0003-3804-4538 (2018) Multimodal strategies of emotional governance: a critical analysis of ‘nudge’ tactics in health policy. Critical Discourse Studies, 15 (1). pp. 39-67. ISSN 1740-5904
Abstract
This study investigates the multimodal strategies used in social marketing to emotionally manipulate and persuade children and their parents to adopt healthier lifestyles. The UK government's anti-obesity ‘Change4Life’ campaign is an example of the increasing reliance on ‘nudge’ tactics in public policy. This approach seeks to develop a range of intervention strategies, inspired by behavioural psychology, in order to change people's behaviours without them necessarily recognising this has happened. I argue it is a form of governmentality which uses subtle semiotic techniques to secure voluntary compliance with policy goals. I bring the concepts of biopolitics and governmentality into dialogue with multimodal critical discourse analysis to examine how this is realised in a series of cartoon government adverts. Three intersecting strategies are identified: (1) the representation of (northern, working class) lifestyles as delinquent (2) a discourse of risk and threat mobilised through emotional manipulation and (3) a discourse of ‘smarter’ consumerism. The increasing popularity of nudge over the last decade coincides with a sustained programme of fiscal austerity which disproportionately penalises the poor, while food poverty and social inequality have increased. I argue that it helps legitimate and instantiate neoliberal political rationalities by privatising (both structurally and morally) responsibility for public health care. Despite the importance it places on communication strategies, critical scholarship on nudge has not yet investigated the linguistic techniques it uses in practice. This paper addresses that omission with a detailed multimodal analysis of the UK's longest running policy nudge.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Critical Discourse Studies on 08 Oct 2017, available online: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17405904.2017.1382381. |
Keywords: | Multimodal critical discourse analysis; nudge; libertarian paternalism; governmentality; biopolitics; risk; health policy; obesity |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Arts and Humanities (Sheffield) > School of English (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 11 Oct 2017 10:59 |
Last Modified: | 15 Nov 2023 12:58 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Taylor & Francis (Routledge) |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1080/17405904.2017.1382381 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:122257 |