French-Speaking Worlds: Framing Post-Growth Ideas: How French Political and Journalistic Discourses Shape Social Acceptability of Degrowth and Sufficiency

Please join the French-Speaking Worlds: Then and Now focal group for a talk entitled "Framing Post-Growth Ideas: How French Political and Journalistic Discourses Shape Social Acceptability of Degrowth and Sufficiency" by Pauline Bureau (Visiting Scholar in the Department of French and Italian).

Abstract:

In a context of escalating environmental pressures, a growing body of research has advanced paradigms and measures that either directly challenge economic growth as a primary societal objective or indirectly do so by advocating reduced consumption to enhance social well-being and mitigate environmental pressures. Yet, given the entrenched belief in economic growth as a societal imperative (Parrique 2019), the actualization of these post-growth ideas (PGI) is highly dependent on their social and political acceptability. While the scientific literature has revealed mixed attitudes toward PGI among the general public (Paulson & Büchs 2022, Thorman 2021, Tomaselli 2017), few studies have examined how post-growth measures are presented in public discourse, such as that of the press or political actors, despite the critical role of those communities in shaping public opinion (van Dijk 2005).

This research project thus aims to analyze French public discourses on PGI, focusing on framing strategies (Entman 1993) in political and journalistic narratives. Drawing on a Corpus-driven methodology that combines Corpus linguistics and Critical discourse analysis (Baker et al. 2008, Wodak 2015), it investigates how different frames of PGI are constructed in discourse to promote or discredit these ideas, and explores the potential limits and implications of these framings with regard to sustainability goals.

Bio:

Pauline Bureau holds a Ph.D. in Applied Linguistics from Grenoble Alpes University (France). Her research focuses on discourses about climate change, particularly on terminological variations and neologisms. She is convinced that observing the words introduced to address ecological disruptions can reveal much about our relationship to these challenges and may even help us identify paradigmatic changes in their infancy!

During her stay at Stanford as a visiting scholar, she will study discourses on one set of responses to climate change, namely post-growth strategies, understood as initiatives that seek to reduce consumption and production in order to minimize environmental impact and enhance well-being.

RSVP for the French-Speaking Worlds - Pauline Bureau talk

Hosted by the French-Speaking Worlds: Then and Now Focal Group, sponsored by the Division of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages Research Unit and co-sponsored by the France-Stanford Center and Stanford Global Studies. This event is part of Stanford Global Studies’ Global Research Workshop Program.