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Article published In:
Occupy: The spatial dynamics of discourse in global protest movements
Edited by Luisa Martín Rojo
[Journal of Language and Politics 13:4] 2014
► pp. 814–836

Framing and blaming in times of economic crisis

The rise and fall of the “Rudd Recession”

| Macquarie University |
This article takes a critical approach to the language used by Australian politicians during the global financial crisis of 2007–8. Critical periods in history provide a rich substrate for the appearance of new expressions with the potential to frame the debate, influencing the ways events are interpreted and blame attributed. Passing unnoticed into usage, such memes have the potential to become part of unexamined background knowledge and covertly co-opt hearers and users into shared systems of value and belief. The study focusses on one specific neologism deployed by opposition politicians, firstly in an attempt to create the erroneous impression that a recession was occurring and secondly that it was the fault of the Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd. Patterns of occurrence were tracked against local and international events, indicating a life cycle with several distinct phases: chance emergence, a strategic deployment, cross-genre diffusion, resistance and eventual rejection.
Keywords: Alliteration, critical discourse analysis, economic crisis, blame, slogans, social media, memes
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction: Discourse, crisis and blame
  • 2.Background context
  • 3.Methodology
  • 4.Trajectory of the RR
    • 4.1Preliminary occurrences
    • 4.2Phase 1: Isolated occurrence with media reproduction and minimal resistance
    • 4.3Phase 2: Intense strategic activity
    • 4.4Phase 3: Refutation, ridicule and disappearance
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 20 February 2015
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.13.4.10mur
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Cited by (2)

Cited by two other publications

Borriello, Arthur
2017. ‘There is no alternative’: How Italian and Spanish leaders’ discourse obscured the political nature of austerity. Discourse & Society 28:3 ► pp. 241 ff. DOI logo
[no author supplied]
2020. The Quest for Argumentative Equivalence [Argumentation in Context, 18], DOI logo

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