Description

Book Synopsis

This volume meditates on the various meanings of legitimation and expands on the notion that language can be used to gain or preserve it by demonstrating the added impact of other modes in specific examples of political and institutional discourse. The book draws on a multilayered framework that builds on and integrates work from both critical discourse analysis and social semiotic traditions, as well as the work of philosophers such as Habermas, Weber, and Rousseau, to show how it might be applied in practice to analyse and understand myriad forms of discourse. The volume focuses on examples from political campaign spots, which highlight various modes, including images, film, oratory, and color, but are also of global relevance and scale, highlighting their unique and complex position at the nexus between legitimation and multimodality. Offering a new analytical framework for understanding legitimation across a range of discursive contexts, this book will be of particular interest

Table of Contents

Contents

List of figures

Formal acknowledgments

INTRODUCTION

1. LEGITIMATION AND MULTIMODALITY IN DISCOURSE: KEY FIGURES AND CONCEPTS

Aristotle

Bourdieu

Foucault

Latour

Orwell and Chomsky

Critical Discourse Analysis ~ Critical Discourse Studies

Van Dijk

Van Leeuwen

2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

Introduction

Analytical Gap

Blending Theoretical Approaches

Theoretical Framework

Key Notions and Terms

3: LEGITIMATION

Introduction

Rationality

Rationality and Legitimation

Dichotomies and Dualisms

Irrationality

Irrationality and Legitimation

Legitimating the Irrational

Rationality and Legitimation in Romanticism

Rationality and Legitimation in Modernism

Mythology and Legitimation

Technology and Legitimation

4: LEGITIMATION, MODE, GENRE, AND CONTEXT: THE COMPLEXITY OF THE POLITICAL AD

The Transferability of the Arts

Dada and Surrealism: Their Politics and Paradoxical Legacy

The Russian Avant-Garde, Eisenstein and Soviet cinema

Adorno, Eisler, and the De-legitimation of Mass Cultural Products

Inverted Modal Salience and Music

Introduction

Genre of Political Ads

Legitimation by the Multimodal Affordances of a Speech

‘Yes We Can’ (2008)

Multimodal Re-contextualisation in a Supporting Role

Legitimation through Genres

Background

‘Don’t Vote Alone’ (2008)

Legitimation through Multimodally Realised Genre and Register

Legitimation and Semiotic Simultaneity

Background

‘Don’t Know Much’ (2008)

Legitimation through Semiotic Simultaneity

Conclusion

5: NATURALLY

Introduction

Persuasion, Naturalisation, and Bourdieu

The Expedience of Uncertainty

‘Daisy’ (1964): Emotional Advertising

Unmodern Resonances

Children in/as Nature

Children and Politicians

Children and Innocence

‘Icecream’ (1964): Protecting Childhood

‘Dangerous World’ (2000), ‘Changing World’ (2004), and ‘Ashley’s Story’ (2004): Childhood Threatened

Deciphering the Body

Child as Savage

‘Poverty’ (1964), ‘The Threat’ (1996): Childhood Changed

Metaphorical Nature

‘Victory’ (2004)

Metaphor and Multimodality

‘Bear’ (1984)

‘Wolves’ (2004)

‘Polar Bears’ (2008) and ‘Wolves (II)’ (2008)

Nature as Environment

‘Orbiting’ (1984)

‘National Parks’ (1956)

‘Harbor’ (1988) and ‘Bay’ (1988)

‘Matters’ (2000)

Theoretical Framework Applied

‘The Threat’ (1996), Dole

‘Matters’ (2000), Gore

Typology

6: SELLING SCOTTISH INDEPENDENCE

Introduction

‘Two Futures’ (2013)

Legitimation and National Identity

Analysis

Multimodal Resources

Pragma-strategic Level

Justificatory Schema

Legitimation as a Process

Legitimation as a Quality

Discourse-Historical Moral Evaluation

7. LEGITIMATION IN OTHER DISCIPLINES AND CONTEXTS

Cartography

Communication with Hazard Maps in Central America

Organization and Management Studies

The Law

Critical Legal Studies

The Heat of Passion Doctrine

‘Adequate Provocation’ and the ‘Reasonable Man’

Fear, Anger, and Agency

Incitation

Ad: ‘Willie Horton’, Hate as strategy

Literature

‘Measure for Measure’: Legitimation and the Law

Literature = Legitimate?

Art

Art and Value

Art and the Body

8. TRUTH AND LEGITIMATION

Truth and Expertise

Truth, Truths, and Lies

Free Speech, ‘Safe Spaces’, Algorithms and Echo Chambers

POSTSCRIPT

Multimodal Legitimation

    Product form

    £37.99

    Includes FREE delivery

    RRP £39.99 – you save £2.00 (5%)

    Order before 4pm today for delivery by Mon 8 Jun 2026.

    A Paperback by Rowan R. Mackay

    1 in stock


      View other formats and editions of Multimodal Legitimation by Rowan R. Mackay

      Publisher: Taylor & Francis
      Publication Date: 5/31/2023 12:00:00 AM
      ISBN13: 9780367762292, 978-0367762292
      ISBN10: 0367762293

      Description

      Book Synopsis

      This volume meditates on the various meanings of legitimation and expands on the notion that language can be used to gain or preserve it by demonstrating the added impact of other modes in specific examples of political and institutional discourse. The book draws on a multilayered framework that builds on and integrates work from both critical discourse analysis and social semiotic traditions, as well as the work of philosophers such as Habermas, Weber, and Rousseau, to show how it might be applied in practice to analyse and understand myriad forms of discourse. The volume focuses on examples from political campaign spots, which highlight various modes, including images, film, oratory, and color, but are also of global relevance and scale, highlighting their unique and complex position at the nexus between legitimation and multimodality. Offering a new analytical framework for understanding legitimation across a range of discursive contexts, this book will be of particular interest

      Table of Contents

      Contents

      List of figures

      Formal acknowledgments

      INTRODUCTION

      1. LEGITIMATION AND MULTIMODALITY IN DISCOURSE: KEY FIGURES AND CONCEPTS

      Aristotle

      Bourdieu

      Foucault

      Latour

      Orwell and Chomsky

      Critical Discourse Analysis ~ Critical Discourse Studies

      Van Dijk

      Van Leeuwen

      2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

      Introduction

      Analytical Gap

      Blending Theoretical Approaches

      Theoretical Framework

      Key Notions and Terms

      3: LEGITIMATION

      Introduction

      Rationality

      Rationality and Legitimation

      Dichotomies and Dualisms

      Irrationality

      Irrationality and Legitimation

      Legitimating the Irrational

      Rationality and Legitimation in Romanticism

      Rationality and Legitimation in Modernism

      Mythology and Legitimation

      Technology and Legitimation

      4: LEGITIMATION, MODE, GENRE, AND CONTEXT: THE COMPLEXITY OF THE POLITICAL AD

      The Transferability of the Arts

      Dada and Surrealism: Their Politics and Paradoxical Legacy

      The Russian Avant-Garde, Eisenstein and Soviet cinema

      Adorno, Eisler, and the De-legitimation of Mass Cultural Products

      Inverted Modal Salience and Music

      Introduction

      Genre of Political Ads

      Legitimation by the Multimodal Affordances of a Speech

      ‘Yes We Can’ (2008)

      Multimodal Re-contextualisation in a Supporting Role

      Legitimation through Genres

      Background

      ‘Don’t Vote Alone’ (2008)

      Legitimation through Multimodally Realised Genre and Register

      Legitimation and Semiotic Simultaneity

      Background

      ‘Don’t Know Much’ (2008)

      Legitimation through Semiotic Simultaneity

      Conclusion

      5: NATURALLY

      Introduction

      Persuasion, Naturalisation, and Bourdieu

      The Expedience of Uncertainty

      ‘Daisy’ (1964): Emotional Advertising

      Unmodern Resonances

      Children in/as Nature

      Children and Politicians

      Children and Innocence

      ‘Icecream’ (1964): Protecting Childhood

      ‘Dangerous World’ (2000), ‘Changing World’ (2004), and ‘Ashley’s Story’ (2004): Childhood Threatened

      Deciphering the Body

      Child as Savage

      ‘Poverty’ (1964), ‘The Threat’ (1996): Childhood Changed

      Metaphorical Nature

      ‘Victory’ (2004)

      Metaphor and Multimodality

      ‘Bear’ (1984)

      ‘Wolves’ (2004)

      ‘Polar Bears’ (2008) and ‘Wolves (II)’ (2008)

      Nature as Environment

      ‘Orbiting’ (1984)

      ‘National Parks’ (1956)

      ‘Harbor’ (1988) and ‘Bay’ (1988)

      ‘Matters’ (2000)

      Theoretical Framework Applied

      ‘The Threat’ (1996), Dole

      ‘Matters’ (2000), Gore

      Typology

      6: SELLING SCOTTISH INDEPENDENCE

      Introduction

      ‘Two Futures’ (2013)

      Legitimation and National Identity

      Analysis

      Multimodal Resources

      Pragma-strategic Level

      Justificatory Schema

      Legitimation as a Process

      Legitimation as a Quality

      Discourse-Historical Moral Evaluation

      7. LEGITIMATION IN OTHER DISCIPLINES AND CONTEXTS

      Cartography

      Communication with Hazard Maps in Central America

      Organization and Management Studies

      The Law

      Critical Legal Studies

      The Heat of Passion Doctrine

      ‘Adequate Provocation’ and the ‘Reasonable Man’

      Fear, Anger, and Agency

      Incitation

      Ad: ‘Willie Horton’, Hate as strategy

      Literature

      ‘Measure for Measure’: Legitimation and the Law

      Literature = Legitimate?

      Art

      Art and Value

      Art and the Body

      8. TRUTH AND LEGITIMATION

      Truth and Expertise

      Truth, Truths, and Lies

      Free Speech, ‘Safe Spaces’, Algorithms and Echo Chambers

      POSTSCRIPT

      Recently viewed products

      © 2026 Book Curl

        • American Express
        • Apple Pay
        • Diners Club
        • Discover
        • Google Pay
        • Maestro
        • Mastercard
        • PayPal
        • Shop Pay
        • Union Pay
        • Visa

        Login

        Forgot your password?

        Don't have an account yet?
        Create account