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Article published In: Moving towards Peace, Compassion and Empathy through Semiotic Enquiry: Special issue of the Journal Language, Context and Text 6:1 (2024)
Edited by Elizabeth A. Thomson, Awni Etaywe, Ingrid Wijeyewardene and Penny Wheeler
[Language, Context and Text 6:1] 2024
► pp. 200–218

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The place of feelings

Empathetic discourse as a strategy for trade union organising

ORCiD logo with link | Università degli Studi di Cagliari, Italy
Published online: 20 August 2024
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/langct.00070.ort
Abstract
This article describes the semiotic resources deployed during the creation, in 2021, of the Alphabet Workers Union (AWU): the trade union that represents the workforce of the tech giant Alphabet Inc. The focus is on how the union shapes and develops its identity as one of “empathetic workers who believe in social justice” (Alphabet Workers Union. 2021. Alphabet Workers Union 2021-01-23. 23 January 2021. [URL][URL]. (30 August 2023.)). The analysis of the homepage of AWU’s website through the prism of the textual metafunction in the visual mode (. 2001. Multimodal discourse (1st edition). London: Bloomsbury Academic.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, Kress, Gunther & Theo van Leeuwen. 2006. Reading images: The grammar of visual design (2nd edition). New York: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, . 2020. Reading images: The grammar of visual design (3rd edition). New York: Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar) together with the analysis of the interpersonal metafunction in the verbal mode according to the “appraisal” paradigm (Martin, J. R. & Peter R. R. White. 2005. The language of evaluation: Appraisal in English. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), shows how the union assigns a central position to positive feelings of togetherness.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Methodology
  • 3.Analysis
    • 3.1Multimodal composition: Establishing the place of feelings
    • 3.2Multimodal ideation and exchange: Empathy as resistance/antidote
  • 4.Conclusion
  • References
References (44)
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2024. Exploration and Application of Intelligent Service Mode of College Labor Union under the Spirit of the Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee. Applied Mathematics and Nonlinear Sciences 9:1 DOI logo

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