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Article published In:
Journal of Language and Politics
Vol. 17:6 (2018) ► pp.831–857

Sensitive economic personae and functional human beings

A critical metaphor analysis of EU policy documents between 1985 and 2014

ORCID logo | European Commission, Joint Research Center
| Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Institute for European Studies

This study is aimed at unveiling the implicit assumptions underlying the language of EU policy-making, drawing on Hannah Arendt’s critique of modernity. It conducts a critical metaphor analysis of strategic EU policy documents from 1985 to 2014 to reveal the extent to which EU policy-making, by relentlessly focusing on the ‘competitiveness, growth, and jobs’ narrative, relies on modern conceptual frameworks. These are characterized by the prominence of rationality and causality, at the expense of sense of purpose, reality and meaning, which is revealed through the validation of four metaphorical keys. These are (i) sensitive inversion, i.e. economic agents are sensitive and humans are functional; (ii) size matters, i.e. big is better than small and one is better than many; (iii) deficit framing, i.e. potential is locked and present is broken/future is bright; and (iv) speed is of the essence, i.e. the world moves fast and we must hurry up.

Keywords: metaphor, critical discourse analysis, European Union, policy, Lisbon strategy, Hannah Arendt
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Critical metaphor analysis: Articulating concepts and metaphors
    • 1.2Relevant work on EU discourses
  • 2.Methodology
    • 2.1Selection of data sources
    • 2.2From conceptual keys to conceptual metaphors
  • 3.Research results
    • 3.1 sensitive inversion
      • economic agents are sensitive
      • economic agents are functional
      • humans are functional
      • humans are sensitive
    • 3.2 size matters
      • big is better than small
      • one is better than many
      • diversity is appreciated
    • 3.3 deficit framing
      • potential is locked
      • present is broken / future is bright
      • we have enough / building on strength
    • 3.4 speed is of the essence
      • the world moves fast
      • we must hurry up
      • taking the time
  • 4.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 14 December 2018
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.17068.dew
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