Skip to main content
Presented to you through Paradigm Publishing Services

John Benjamins Publishing Company

Visit our Partner Page See all our books
Chapter
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Chapter 14. Reading political minds

“Backstage” politics in audience reception

Abstract

Audiences often speculate about why it is politicians behave in the way they do and say the things they say. Indeed, journalists and academics are frequently called upon to decode these behaviours for “lay” audiences. An integral part of “doing” politics is thus to reconstruct the backstage political processes leading to politicians’ frontstage performances (see Wodak 2009). To account for this speculative activity, I draw on Goffman’s (1981) notion of the “production format” of discourse, alongside concepts from cognitive and social psychology, specifically Schema Theory, Attribution Theory and Theory of Mind. To illustrate this interdisciplinary framework, I analyse journalistic reactions to a speech by the British politician and former Labour Party leader Ed Miliband.

Abstract

Audiences often speculate about why it is politicians behave in the way they do and say the things they say. Indeed, journalists and academics are frequently called upon to decode these behaviours for “lay” audiences. An integral part of “doing” politics is thus to reconstruct the backstage political processes leading to politicians’ frontstage performances (see Wodak 2009). To account for this speculative activity, I draw on Goffman’s (1981) notion of the “production format” of discourse, alongside concepts from cognitive and social psychology, specifically Schema Theory, Attribution Theory and Theory of Mind. To illustrate this interdisciplinary framework, I analyse journalistic reactions to a speech by the British politician and former Labour Party leader Ed Miliband.

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.80.14bro

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
Downloaded on 20.4.2026 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1075/dapsac.80.14bro/html
Scroll to top button