Language matters – developing inclusive narratives

You can download the full Divide and Rule Playbook here

Short Briefing

Over the past year, CLASS have been working on the Race-Class Narrative project, which aims to capture the values and experiences of diverse working class people up and down the country. In May, we released the first part of this research, which developed a new narrative that builds solidarity across race and class to inoculate against the powerful few seeking to divide us, and win progressive change. In August, we released the second part of our project; They Look Down On Us, which disproves misconceptions about the working class, including the fact that it is predominantly “white”. We revealed that one of the defining characteristics of the working class is, in fact, its diversity.

The third and final part of this project is The Divide and Rule Playbook. Using a snapshot language analysis, we explored political discourse on race and class across the political spectrum over the past two years. Language is a tool used to express and construct social and political reality in which metaphors perform a critical function. Our thought and speech are structured metaphorically, with abstract concepts cognitively organised via structures borrowed from more concrete categories. The conceptual metaphors used in political messaging and narratives reveal the ‘deep’ and the primarily subconscious way our opponents convey race and class to their audience.

CLASS’s one-year project is funded by our supporting unions, including NEU, ASLEF, BFAWU, CWU, GFTU, GMB, NUM, NUT, PCS, TSSA, UCU and Unite the Union. We were also supported by the Robert Bosch Foundation, Unbound, Barrow Cadbury Fund, Guerilla Foundation, People’s Action, and Marlene Englehorn.

Through this research, we uncovered the key stories, metaphors, values, and themes that shape how race and class are understood today. We were able to identify five core metaphors used to relay a particular understanding of race and class in 21st century Britain: war, cult, game, journey and illness. We also found a singular, overarching narrative on race and class which is seen across the political spectrum. The final part of this research included constructing 100 word messages which were tested with the public through a national survey and dial testing. The purpose of this was to see how these messages were received by the British public.

Our project has shown that language, and especially metaphors matter, so we cannot repeat the metaphors and frames of our opponents. To propagate this story that we are all against each other, that we are a polarized society, leads to a pessimistic and disempowered state of mind – not the starting place we need for people to join together and take action.

Our new Race Class Narratives is an essential counter narrative which ccreates an inclusive ‘us’ by using intersectional language and emphasising the important things we have in common: what we want and value. Moreover, our messages are effective. By encouraging unity, mutual respect and compassion we can rebalance the economic system away from the wealthy and powerful few, to include every single person no matter their race, origin and gender.

The Divide and Rule Playbook

Setting the scene

Introduction to the Report

One of the key challenges of our time are the increasingly popular discourses of division and hate used to divide, distract and disempower citizens from focusing our attention on our shared interests, and organ- ising and demanding the kind of society most of us want. Rather than the ‘working class’ identity being used to foster solidarity across race to secure mutual and shared interests, it has been weaponised in order to undermine the solidarity needed to win better wages, good working conditions, robust public services, justice, clean air and water, and equality. The divide-and- rule strategy – as found by this report – is to racialise and portray the working class as a white cultural minority, presenting them as the victims of immigration and advances in racial and gender equality. While certain politicians and pundits speak frequently about the ‘white working class’, working-class migrants and people of colour are rarely, if ever, referred to by their class. Meanwhile, the ‘war on woke’ is a widely shared reactionary story of Britain under threat from a small internal minority taking control – the ‘woke’ fanatics set on ‘doing Britain down’. Rhetorically, such framing functions to distract us, scapegoat society’s ills, and conceals the essential questions of inequality, power, wealth and oppression and the shared interests of diverse working-class people.

We cannot simply ignore the divide-and-rule strategies, and try to rise above them. In a time where inequality is increasing, living conditions are worsening, and social and political unrest and violence is worsening across the globe, certain groups of people are especially susceptible to divisive and demonising explanations of our circumstances. Our opponents will exploit the frustration and anger by directing it at often vulnerable groups in society, perceived to be powerless and therefore an easy target. For those who are not susceptible to scapegoating and demonising groups, these narratives function to disempower, to convince us that we are all too divided, too opposed to come together and demand that tomorrow is better than today. We are not alone in being concerned by divide-and-rule tactics, a recent international poll found that the majority of people felt too little was being done to address division.(1,2 – see endnotes below)

This is not just a UK problem. We see these narratives across the globe. From the anti-feminist movement in South Korea to Italy being set to be run by the fascist, Georgia Meloni, leader of the far-right populist group ‘Brothers of Italy,’ no community can be complacent.(3) The UK Race Class Narrative project seeks to challenge this embedded cultural narrative by elevating the voices and experiences of diverse working-class people (“They Look Down on Us”), providing original empirically grassroots messaging to unify the working class (“UK RCN”), and by exposing the tactics of our opposition in the following chapters.

The British Media Landscape

As NEON[New Economy Organisers Network]’s 2020 report discusses, the media landscape has a long history of pushing divisive narratives.(4) As newspapers are increasingly ‘share driven’ and viewership is down, broadcasters need to retain viewers and listeners, along with effectively unregulated social media platforms – it is a prime landscape for confected outrage, deceitful debates and polarising narratives to attract an audience (i.e., the Piers Morgan model). The more clicks, likes, and shares, the better – thus providing a solid return for advertisers.

Meanwhile, those who own media outlets and those in power are often middle and upper-class, white, and often men. Many at the top not only share similar worldviews but many also share ties with top politicians and the super-rich (several journalists have worked for Prime Ministers and then returned to journalism, for example).

While our opponents’ story is effective, a significant part of its success is that they, too, dominate many means of communication. As the governing party, the Conservatives have access to massive platforms when giving speeches, commentary, and debates. With allies (at least in terms of ideology) managing mainstream newspapers, radios and TV news shows, the current government has vast resources to perpetuate and control the narrative.

As we know from polling, the public is not on side when it comes to austerity, privatisation and inequitable taxation policy. Given our opponents’ ideological aversion to progressive, transformative policy, they have nothing to offer us in a time of crisis. Instead, it would appear that the strategy of both the Conservative leadership contestants and the rightwing media is to double down on ‘culture war’ tactics, i.e., they will try harder than ever to divide people based on race, class, ethnicity, gender, and so much more.

Why does language matter?

The way we communicate – the words, phrases, stories, experiences we share – matters because it shapes how people understand the world around them. Stories can take on a life of their own and become embedded as a ‘common sense’ way of thinking, meaning that it is shared amongst many in society, even taken for granted.

The ultimate function of such messaging is not to inform but rather to persuade the listener towards certain political opinions and actions. This includes voting for a particular side or supporting a certain policy.

The study of political discourse is therefore a vital exercise in understanding the underlying intention and ideology that is being conveyed.

Here is the issue: how something is framed often goes undetected and therefore unchallenged. This is because most of the mechanisms we use to process information and formulate judgments when we hear a certain message are subconscious and outside of our control.

Experimental evidence suggests that a phrase or even a particular word, let alone an entire narrative, can shift what an audience perceives and dramatically affects their policy preferences. In one study researchers tested the effects of framing crime using the metaphors of either crime-as-virus or crime-as-beast.(5) The beast framing of crime encouraged participants to seek more punitive responses: capturing, enforcing, punishing i.e., more police force, whereas viewing crime as a virus brought to mind more preventative social welfare policy. The researchers found, through experiments, even the most subtle use of a metaphor (i.e., one single word) can have a powerful influence over us in a way not even recognised by the audience. Metaphors in language appear to instantiate frame-consistent knowledge structures and invite structurally consistent inferences. Every time a certain frame is heard, it is further reinforced to the extent that some people will begin to reject facts that do not make sense within their frame. As George Lakoff tells us, repeating a frame, even to negate it, strengthens that frame. So we should avoid trying to dispel myths as it keeps us in our opponents’ frame.(6)

A new narrative?

We need to build a strong narrative and communicate in ways that unite and mobilise citizens to come together and demand progressive change using their voice and their votes. Inclusive narratives are key to countering popular discourses of division and prejudice that not only divide citizens but also hinder progress on equality legislation such as higher taxes on the rich or greater investment in childcare. We need to communicate the truth that there is a small elite making decisions against the common interests and connect the necessity of people uniting (across race and class) to secure our mutual interests: a better future.

Never fear, the UK Race Class Narrative report is already here! Our tried- and-tested race class messages have come directly from listening to working class people and are more persuasive, mobilising, and resonant with people across race and class around shared interests. The report exposes and delegitimises our opponents’ tactic of division and racialised scapegoating which distracts us and turns working class people against one another. Our new Race Class Narratives act as an antidote by creating an inclusive ‘us’ by using intersectional language and emphasising the important things we have in common: what we want and value. Moreover, our messages are effective. Our base and fellow advocates (people who work on social justice issues professionally) far prefer our new narratives, which are also more persuasive than our opponents’ message and what we are currently saying to people who could potentially be moved.

Endnotes

1. Gunia, A. (2022, March 10). How South Korea’s Yoon Suk-yeol Capitalized on Anti-Feminist Backlash to Win the Presidency. Time. https://time.com/6156537/ south-korea-president-yoon-suk-yeol-sexism/
2. A poll finds that 65% of people across Canada Costa Rica, Mexico, Republic of Korea, Sierra Leone, Sweden, Tunisia, Uruguay are doing too little to overcome division. From Rhetoric to Action: Delivering Equality & Inclusion. (2021). Path- finders Grand Challenge on Inequality and Exclusion, NYU, CIC. https://www. sdg16.plus/ delivering-equality-and-inclusion
3. Tondo, L. (2022, August 7). Italy’s far right turns Lampedusa’s refugee crisis to its advantage. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/ aug/07/italy-election-far-right-lampedusa-refugees-matteo-salvini
4. (2020). ‘Divide and Rule: how the ‘culture wars’ are a reactionary backlash constructed to distract us, and how to respond.’ NEON. [“We believe that building movements is central to winning social justice.”] https://drive. google.com/file/d/17SEJreIhJ-o_rqWH57jOC9yZZUqfor4K/view
5. Thibodeau, P. H., & Boroditsky, L. (2011b). Metaphors We Think With: The Role of Metaphor in Reasoning. PLoS ONE, 6(2), e16782. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal. pone.0016782
6. (2021, January 6). Virus as beast or crime. PIRC. https://publicinterest.org.uk/ part-5-virus-beast-or-crime/
7. Lakoff, G. and Johnson, M. (1980). Conceptual Metaphor in Everyday Language. The Journal of Philosophy, 77(8), p.453.