POLITICAL TALK: THEMATIC ANALYSIS OF A POLICY ARGUMENT*

1 May 1983

journal article
Published by Wiley in Review of Policy Research

Vol. 2 (4) , 601-614
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1541-1338.1983.tb00791.x

Abstract

Policy and the processes that go into i t s formulation and implementation are constituted by language. In this article, a linguistic and ethnographic approach to the study of “themes” is applied to the transcripts of some oral arguments by independent truckers at the Interstate Commerce Commission. The results show a portion of the underlying logic of the argument, a logic whose structure was minimally affected by the eventual policy decision.

Keywords

ANALYSIS OF A POLICY
THEMATIC ANALYSIS
POLITICAL TALK
POLICY ARGUMENT
LINGUISTIC
LOGIC
LANGUAGE

This publication has 1 reference indexed in Scilit:

Proposition and confrontation in a legal discussion
Semiotica, 1981