Complex Discursive Dynamics: The Performance of the Labour Party in the 2017 General Election

我打算通过这个博士学位进行的研究汇集了复杂性理论和话语分析，以揭示工党在2017年英国大选中的表现。从理论的角度来看，我会认为，认知论的亲和力支撑的连接主义的复杂性方法，和后结构语篇分析方法，允许一个新的理论框架，以解决话语动态分析的发展。在实证层面上，该框架将被应用于2017年6月8日大选前几周的话语动态分析。这样的分析可以提供新的见解，如何以及为什么特定的话语能够适应，忍受和传播，而其他人则不能。本研究运用复杂性理论中的涌现、自组织和弹性等概念，沿着话语分析中的清晰度、质询和沉淀等概念，旨在揭示复杂性理论和话语分析是否可以用来概念化话语结构的动态性。有定量和定性的方法，可以用来实现本研究的实证野心。一种定量的方法，可以很好地回答一些提出的问题，是“大数据”分析方法。互联网在以新的方式让个人参与政治问题方面发挥的日益重要的作用不应被忽视; Margetts et al（2016）在Political Turbulence中深入探讨了这一主题。虽然他们的工作并没有特别提到话语分析，但它确实使复杂性在其方法论中发挥了核心作用，正如书名中的“动荡”一词所暗示的那样。为了补充这一定量研究，我打算在2017年英国大选前几周对主流媒体的产出进行批判性话语分析，以及对相关个人和团体进行访谈和焦点小组定性研究。

The research I intend to undertake through this PhD brings together complexity theory and discourse analysis to shed new light on the performance of the Labour party at the 2017 UK General Election. From a theoretical perspective, I will argue that the epistemological affinity underpinning both a connectionist complexity approach, and a post-structural discourse analysis approach, allows for the development of a novel theoretical framework with which to tackle discourse dynamics analysis. On an empirical level, this framework will be applied to the analysis of the discursive dynamics in the weeks preceding the election on June 8th of 2017. Such an analysis could give new insights into how and why particular discourses are able to adapt, endure and spread, whilst others are not. Using the complexity theory concepts of emergence, self-organisation and resilience, along with discourse analysis concepts such as articulation, interpellation and sedimentation, this research will aim to uncover whether complexity theory and discourse analysis can be used to conceptualise the dynamics of discursive formations. There are both quantitative and qualitative methodologies which could be employed to realise the empirical ambitions of this research. One quantitative approach which may lend itself well to answering some of the questions being posed, is the 'big data' analysis approach. The growing role that the internet plays in engaging individuals with political issues in new ways should not be ignored; Margetts et al (2016) explore this topic in-depth in Political Turbulence. Although their work does not refer specifically to discourse analysis, it does give complexity a central role to play in its methodological approach, as the word 'turbulence' in the book's title would suggest. To complement this quantitative research, I intend to carry out critical discourse analysis of the output of mainstream media outlets for the weeks preceding the 2017 UK General Election, as well as interviews and focus group qualitative research with relevant individuals and groups.