ECONOMIC DISCOURSE AS A MEANS OF MANIPULATION

Abstract

Modern information and communication technologies are powerful tools to influence the public opinion in the interests of government institutions, political parties or oligarchic clans. This requires a comprehensive approach to further analysis of manipulative means of economic discourse as a kind of institutional discursive practice consisting of communicative intentions, specifying the main purpose of socialization - the transformation of a member of society into someone sharing system of universal and specific values, economic knowledge and ideas, norms and rules relevant to economic situation. Manipulation as a complex psycholinguistic phenomenon of hidden impact on a recipient modifies such economic discourse functions as informing, persuading, organizing, and controlling in the best interests of dominant economic and political groups. The article offers the integrative approach to analysis of manipulative means on the cognitive, social and discursive levels that involves overall strategy of economic discourse means. In terms of cognitive mechanisms manipulation is a form of interference with an adequate understanding of social and economic processes, values, norms of economic activities, formation and modification of certain mental models, economic senses and ways of representing practices of economic actors (individual, collective and institutional) towards reproduction of their power. The social aspect of economic discourse manipulates social attitudes of economic agents, their self-esteem, satisfying growing needs, wealth temptation, the desire for success through profit, redistribution of capital. It is directed to the modification of economic concepts, creating false economic notions, myths, misrepresentation and selection of information, the impact on the conscious and unconscious (instincts, emotions), creation of false analogies, examples and implemented discursive structures. Discursive aspect finds ways of expressing communicative manipulation using linguistic resources due to the type and genre of discourse. The article presents partial analysis of a speech by M.Asarov for confirming the economic policy development in Ukrainian parliament by deputes.