Produktdetaljer
David Block is ICREA Research Professor in Sociolinguistics at the University of Lleida, Spain. He has published on a variety of language-related topics, which he examines drawing on scholarship in Marxist political economy and sociology. His books include Social Class in Applied Linguistics (2014) and Political Economy and Sociolinguistics (2018).
“David Block’s book takes a fascinating look at the notions of truth, truths and post-truth. It extends political discourse analysis into concepts of misrepresentation, misleadingness, ‘bullshit’ and the propagation of ignorance. The context of Trump and ‘fake news’ makes this original study very timely. Post-truth is identified as a relatively novel form of political discourse, an anything goes discursive practice similar to what Orwell referred to as doublespeak and constituting what Block identifies as corrupt discourses. The gloves-off, aggressive style constitutes, according to Block, a new kind of language warfare whose hard-hitting directness is enhanced through its use on social media. Drawing on Critical Discourse Studies methodology, Block provides an insightful analysis of corrupt discourses from the Spanish political party, Partido Popular. His claim is that the question of post-truth is indicative of the narrow scope of contemporary official politics and symptomatic of the turbulent times in which we live.” (Marnie Holborow, Dublin City University, Ireland)