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Part of
The Construction of ‘Ordinariness’ across Media Genres
Edited by Anita Fetzer and Elda Weizman
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 307] 2019
► pp. 51–72

“You bring the steaks, I’ll bring the salad”

Presenting ordinariness in PM Netanyahu’s public talks

| Bar-Ilan University, Israel

In line with theories of charismatic leadership (Weber 1947, Shamir et al. 1994), and drawing on Goffman’s approach (1959) regarding impression management as well as on Sacks’ concept (1984) of (extra)ordinariness as a work done through discourse, this study defines and analyzes a discursive practice employed by Israeli PM Netanyahu in his public talks, namely the construction of an image that on the one hand, all citizens can identify and empathize with, and on the other, presents him as so unique as to be irreplaceable. The examples demonstrate the stylistic, discursive and thematic aspects of Netanyahu’s public discourse on the background of culture-specific norms and expectations.

The analysis identifies two types of ordinariness that Netanyahu communicates to the audience: The positive ordinariness that Weizman and Fetzer (2018) associate with the fulfillment of civic duties, and being “all-Israeli” in the sense of being an average, down-to-earth member of Israeli society.

Keywords: self-presentation, impression management, political speech, Netanyahu, charismatic leadership, frame alignment, staged ordinariness, communicated ordinariness
Article outline
  • 1.Constructing ordinariness
  • 2.Between the ordinary and the epic
  • 3.Benjamin Netanyahu as a case study
  • 4.Netanyahu’s staged and communicated ordinariness
    • 4.1Linguistic tools
    • 4.2Reference to ordinary lifestyle and preferences
  • 5.Constructing Netanyahu’s life as an epic
  • 6.Problematizing the concept of ordinariness: The social-cultural perspective
  • 7.Concluding remarks
  • References
Published online: 12 December 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.307.03liv
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