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RESEARCH PRODUCT
Talis pater, talis filius: the role of discursive strategies, thematic narratives and ideology in Cosa Nostra
Salvatore Di PiazzaFabio I. M. PoppiGiovanni A. Travaglinosubject
060201 languages & linguisticsStructure (mathematical logic)Reductionismmedia_common.quotation_subjectGeneral Social Sciences06 humanities and the artsEpistemologyFamily dynamics0602 languages and literatureNarrativeSociologyIdeologySet (psychology)Relativismmedia_commondescription
The discursive analysis of criminal organizations’ family dynamics and ideological devices may provide important insights into the inner functioning of these groups. In this article, we describe and analyze a specific set of discursive strategies and the thematic narratives emerging from a TV interview with Giuseppe Riina, a member of Cosa Nostra and the son of one of the most important mafia bosses. Our analyses demonstrate the existence of recurring ideological devices such as reductionism, amoralism, familism, verticalism, normalism, victimism and religious relativism. The results are discussed in light of previous research that examines how discursive strategies and narratives may represent powerful tools for understanding criminal organizations. Family-related discourses, in particular, reveal meanings, values and ideas that contribute to constructing criminal organizations’ internal structure, as well as their relationship with the external world.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-06-10 | Critical Discourse Studies |