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Euphoric defiance: the role of positive emotions in the British Eurosceptic discourse

Henkel, Imke (2021) Euphoric defiance: the role of positive emotions in the British Eurosceptic discourse. Journalism: Theory, Practice and Criticism 22 (5), pp. 1223-1238. ISSN 1464-8849.

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Abstract

Ever since Britain voted to leave the European Union, emotions have dominated the public debate. How negative emotions, such as anger, have impacted the Brexit vote, has been widely researched. Less attention has been focused on the role positive emotions played in debating Britain?s relationship to the EU. Using critical discourse analysis and drawing on appraisal theory to investigate the representation of emotions in six sample texts from a corpus of so-called ?Euromyths? (N=334), this study argues that positive emotions were used to create a myth in Roland Barthes? sense to naturalise a Eurosceptic ideology of British defiance and power.

Metadata

Item Type: Article
Keyword(s) / Subject(s): Brexit, critical discourse analysis, Euroscepticism, Euromyths, myth, political communication, positive emotions, Roland Barthes
School: Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Creative Arts, Culture and Communication
Depositing User: Administrator
Date Deposited: 15 Sep 2021 14:35
Last Modified: 15 Jun 2025 06:22
URI: https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/45957

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