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Article published In: Pragmatics and Society
Vol. 16:2 (2025) ► pp.151–173

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Regrounding work in elite discourse

Mediatizing and amplifying entitlement

ORCiD logo with link | University of Bern
ORCiD logo with link | University of Hong Kong
Published online: 29 August 2024
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ps.24006.thu
Abstract
This paper considers the interplay of small-scale pragmatic actions and large-scale discursive formations; specifically, we examine frame-shifting and keying in the globally syndicated BBC television show Amazing Hotels: Life Beyond the Lobby. Focusing on the fourth season of Amazing Hotels, which broadcast in 2021, we document how work and workers are staged for entertainment as quintessential examples of a non-serious frame that Goffman called regroundings. We argue that this particular keying of other people’s labour as play is further evidence for how mediatized representations of super-elite lifestyles normalize inequality by “democratizing” privilege and amplifying entitlement.
Article outline
  • 1.Setting the scene
  • 2.Conceptual framework: Elite discourse, framing, and regroundings
    • 2.1Linguistic products: Discursive formations
    • 2.2Linguistic processes: Pragmatic actions
  • 3.Analysis: Regrounding work in the Amazing Hotels
  • 4.Discussion and conclusion: Mediatizing and amplifying entitlement
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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