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Chapter 6. Making “politics” relevant

How constituents and a member of parliament raise political topics at constituency surgeries
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Abstract

This paper investigates an area of political discourse that has hitherto existed in an analytic “black box”: the constituency office. We focus on the interactions between ordinary British people as they engage directly in “political” discussions with their Member of Parliament. While the majority of surgery talk surrounds complaints about services, we focus on sequences of talk in which either citizens or the MP make “political” topics relevant. Eighty consultations were video-recorded, anonymised and transcribed, and the data analysed using conversation analysis. We found that MP-initiated political comments portray the government as aligned with constituents’ needs, whereas constituents use political comments largely to criticise the government. Constituents privilege the interactional contingencies over other issues. Overall, the paper contributes to our understanding of how constituents navigate interactional and political contingencies in interactions with their representative.

Abstract

This paper investigates an area of political discourse that has hitherto existed in an analytic “black box”: the constituency office. We focus on the interactions between ordinary British people as they engage directly in “political” discussions with their Member of Parliament. While the majority of surgery talk surrounds complaints about services, we focus on sequences of talk in which either citizens or the MP make “political” topics relevant. Eighty consultations were video-recorded, anonymised and transcribed, and the data analysed using conversation analysis. We found that MP-initiated political comments portray the government as aligned with constituents’ needs, whereas constituents use political comments largely to criticise the government. Constituents privilege the interactional contingencies over other issues. Overall, the paper contributes to our understanding of how constituents navigate interactional and political contingencies in interactions with their representative.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Chapter 1. Introduction 1
  4. Part I. Multidisciplinary approaches to political discourse
  5. Chapter 2. “We have the character of an island nation” 27
  6. Chapter 3. “Dancing with doxa” 59
  7. Part II. Representing the people, representing the government
  8. Chapter 4. Charting the semantics of labour relations in House of Commons debates spanning two hundred years 81
  9. Chapter 5. Off the record 105
  10. Chapter 6. Making “politics” relevant 127
  11. Part III. Doing populism
  12. Chapter 7. A cross-linguistic study of new populist language 153
  13. Chapter 8. Disciplining the unwilling 179
  14. Part IV. Mediated politics
  15. Chapter 9. Es-tu Charlie? 211
  16. Chapter 10. United we diverge 235
  17. Chapter 11. Hybridity and antagonism in broadcast election campaign interviews 259
  18. Chapter 12. Mediated campaign debate subgenre and their importance for analytic considerations 281
  19. Chapter 13. Cross-talk in political discourse 301
  20. Part V. Self-referential political discourse
  21. Chapter 14. Reading political minds 333
  22. Chapter 15. “All this is a boon to Britain’s crumbling democracy” 361
  23. Part VI. Doing foreign policy
  24. Chapter 16. Red lines and rash decisions 385
  25. Notes on contributors 407
  26. Index 413
Doing Politics
This chapter is in the book Doing Politics
https://doi.org/10.1075/dapsac.80.06hof

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Chapter 1. Introduction 1
  4. Part I. Multidisciplinary approaches to political discourse
  5. Chapter 2. “We have the character of an island nation” 27
  6. Chapter 3. “Dancing with doxa” 59
  7. Part II. Representing the people, representing the government
  8. Chapter 4. Charting the semantics of labour relations in House of Commons debates spanning two hundred years 81
  9. Chapter 5. Off the record 105
  10. Chapter 6. Making “politics” relevant 127
  11. Part III. Doing populism
  12. Chapter 7. A cross-linguistic study of new populist language 153
  13. Chapter 8. Disciplining the unwilling 179
  14. Part IV. Mediated politics
  15. Chapter 9. Es-tu Charlie? 211
  16. Chapter 10. United we diverge 235
  17. Chapter 11. Hybridity and antagonism in broadcast election campaign interviews 259
  18. Chapter 12. Mediated campaign debate subgenre and their importance for analytic considerations 281
  19. Chapter 13. Cross-talk in political discourse 301
  20. Part V. Self-referential political discourse
  21. Chapter 14. Reading political minds 333
  22. Chapter 15. “All this is a boon to Britain’s crumbling democracy” 361
  23. Part VI. Doing foreign policy
  24. Chapter 16. Red lines and rash decisions 385
  25. Notes on contributors 407
  26. Index 413
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