The Language of Power: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Dystopian Fiction and American Political Speech

Abstract

Political discourse constitutes an essential tool for the construction of ideology and power exercise in society. In dystopian fictional and real-world political contexts, political actors employ persuasive linguistic strategies to influence the public and reinforce their authority. The purpose of this study is to analyze the political discourse in both contexts, with the objective of finding significant similarities, through the examination of five linguistic features, and their subsequent discursive and social practice. The results reveal strong similarities between fictional and non-fictional rhetoric, particularly in the use of personal and social deixis in terms of group polarization. Ultimately, the study demonstrates that dystopian fiction exaggerates discursive mechanisms already present in contemporary political communication.