TY - JOUR
T1 - Ideology and discourse
T2 - Characterizations of the 1996 Farm Bill by agricultural interest groups
AU - Brasier, Kathryn J.
PY - 2002
Y1 - 2002
N2 - The relationship between discourse and ideology can be described as that of process and effect [Purvis and Hunt (1993) British Journal of Sociology 44: 473-499]. Discourse, used within relations of domination, can result in the formation of ideology. To study this relationship systematically requires a methodology that contextualizes discourse within social relations and examines when such discourse becomes an ideology. I use Thompson's theory/methodology of "depth hermeneutics" to study documents produced by agricultural interest groups concerning the 1996 Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform (FAIR) Act and I assess the ideological status of the discourses contained in these documents. The findings suggest that the organizations representing the small-to-medium-sized farmers tended to use more agrarian themes, fewer market themes, and fewer linguistic strategies indicative of ideology. The organizations representing more concentrated, vertically-integrated interests and agribusinesses use fewer agrarian themes, more market themes, and more linguistic strategies. Therefore, market themes, not agrarian themes, form an ideology in this context.
AB - The relationship between discourse and ideology can be described as that of process and effect [Purvis and Hunt (1993) British Journal of Sociology 44: 473-499]. Discourse, used within relations of domination, can result in the formation of ideology. To study this relationship systematically requires a methodology that contextualizes discourse within social relations and examines when such discourse becomes an ideology. I use Thompson's theory/methodology of "depth hermeneutics" to study documents produced by agricultural interest groups concerning the 1996 Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform (FAIR) Act and I assess the ideological status of the discourses contained in these documents. The findings suggest that the organizations representing the small-to-medium-sized farmers tended to use more agrarian themes, fewer market themes, and fewer linguistic strategies indicative of ideology. The organizations representing more concentrated, vertically-integrated interests and agribusinesses use fewer agrarian themes, more market themes, and more linguistic strategies. Therefore, market themes, not agrarian themes, form an ideology in this context.
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U2 - 10.1023/A:1019913920983
DO - 10.1023/A:1019913920983
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:27144448336
SN - 0889-048X
VL - 19
SP - 239
EP - 253
JO - Agriculture and Human Values
JF - Agriculture and Human Values
IS - 3
ER -