Terrorism to me...it’s a sneaky
way... it’s not like war.
A discourse-dynamic metaphor
analysis of concepts of group
identity and empathy in a
discussion about terrorism.
Lynne Cameron and Robert Maslen
The Open University
Developing methods across
funded research projects
Project 1: Perception and
Communication of the Risk of
Terrorism (ESRC)
 Project 2: Living with Uncertainty
(ESRC/AHRC)

Outline
Project 1 data and methods
 Using project 1 as a starting point for
project 2
 Project 2 methods
 Findings
 Further work

Project 1



24 month project with researchers from several
disciplines, blended methods and several stages.
Funded by UK Economic and Social Research Council
“New Security Challenges Programme” How do people
conceptualise, interpret and assess background terrorist
risk?
Research Question:

How do people conceptualise, interpret and assess
background terrorist risk?
• Is there variation between groups, differentiated by
socio-economic status, gender, place of residence,
religious affiliation? What do they have in common?
Project 1 data

12 focus groups with members of the public
AB
Men
AB
Women
C1/C2
Men
C1/C2
Women
Muslim
Men
Muslim
Women
Total
Leeds
8
8
8
8
8
8
48
London
8
8
8
8
8
8
48
Total participants: 96
Socio-economic status: AB = professional, skilled jobs
C1/C2 = manual, semi- or unskilled jobs
Metaphor Analysis


Transcription of audio recording to
intonation units (Chafe, 1994; du Bois et al,
1993).
Identification of linguistic metaphor
vehicles (Cameron, 2003)


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
.. if they were living in some sort of stability,
I would say it’s a flaw in the system
12,905 linguistic metaphors.
Finding systematicity: constructing groups
of connected metaphors
Identifying systematic metaphors
BALANCE IS THE NORM FOR SOCIETY
TERRORISM DISTURBS THE BALANCE
.. if they were living in some sort of stability,
(Leeds CD Men)
because normal Muslims aren't like this
(Leeds CD Women)
the world is out of balance
(London AB Women)
it settles down
(London Muslim Women)
they try to disrupt the government
(London Muslim Women)
upsets the fragile peace
(Leeds Muslim Men)
Identifying systematic metaphors
THE RISK OF TERRORISM IS A GAME OF CHANCE
PEOPLE HAVE NO CONTROL OVER OUTCOMES
we get caught up in a poker game
(London AB Men)
they will play the bluff
(London AB Men)
the odds are very high
(Leeds Muslim Women)
if your number’s up
(London AB Men)
pawns in a game
(Leeds CD Men)
Metaphor analysis:
methodological challenges
Working with large amounts of data
 Trustworthiness

Training
 Reliability checking
 Tension between interpretation and
rigour


The nature of metaphor

boundaries
THE RISK OF TERRORISM IS A GAME OF
CHANCE
PEOPLE HAVE NO CONTROL OVER
OUTCOMES
Men make more use than Women of gaming
metaphors to talk about the risks of terrorism.
***
Muslim Men make much less use than nonMuslim Men. ***
Muslim Women make little or no use of these.
**
BALANCE IS THE NORM FOR INDIVIDUAL /
SOCIETY
Women make more use of BALANCE
metaphors, speaking of norms for individuals
and social groups as a balance, norm or
equilibrium. ***
Project 2
Living with Uncertainty: Metaphor
and the dynamics of empathy in
discourse
Opening up possibilities for alternative
responses to uncertainty
 Research Fellowship with linked
project activities
 Phase 1: Perceptions of other people
in times of threat: Empathy and
metaphor in focus group discussions

Research Question

How do focus groups use metaphor
and other language strategies to
construct, negotiate and resist
empathy in respect of other social
groups?
Empathy
Emotional empathy
 Perspective taking
 Moral/ethical positioning

Project 2 data
Project 1 focus group data
 Already coded and analysed for
metaphor

Terry if they were that brave,
.. surely they'd say
<Q right,
.. this is our team,
.. that's your team,
… crack on Q> []
xx XX
Terry but they don't,
.. because they hide
in the woodwork.
xx mm.
xx mm.
Finn well who's to -who's -who's <X to draw up
X> the teams?
.. who's to say,
which is the -which is on -who's on which team?
Building on the metaphor
analysis

Adding deictic metaphors
(here/there, this/that)
it’s not that these groups were not there,
they were there all the time,
they were there here in -in England also.
Building on the metaphor
analysis

SOCIAL LANDSCAPE metaphors
Across previous vehicle groupings
 Landscape related
 Topics: social life, social groups

terrorism to me it’s a sneaky way
(the government is) moving away from
the situation,
SOCIAL LANDSCAPE

SOCIO-CULTURAL DIFFERENCE IS
PHYSICAL SEPARATION
 …divide the society,
 I mean it'll divide - invisible walls now]],
..being ..built.
SOCIAL LANDSCAPE MODEL
Other language strategies related
to empathy across social groups
Explicit expression of empathy
 Perspective taking
 Narratives
 Scenarios
 Labelling
 Reference shifting

SCENARIO
my children suddenly have realised,
that,
..not only they are British,
..they are British Muslims.
.. that is ..what has happened.
that suddenly they have realised,
<Q oh I am a Muslim Q>.
..until now,
they were living,
… (2.0) as if they were any other British youngster.
..but now they particularly feel it.
..so that,
..age of innocence,
has suddenly.. disappeared.
CODA
my children suddenly have realised,
that,
..not only they are British,
..they are British Muslims.
.. that is ..what has happened.
that suddenly they have realised,
<Q oh I am a Muslim Q>.
..until now,
they were living,
… (2.0) as if they were any other British youngster.
..but now they particularly feel it.
..so that,
..age of innocence,
has suddenly.. disappeared.
LABELLING
my children suddenly have realised,
that,
..not only they are British,
..they are British Muslims.
.. that is ..what has happened.
that suddenly they have realised,
<Q oh I am a Muslim Q>.
..until now,
they were living,
… (2.0) as if they were any other British youngster.
..but now they particularly feel it.
..so that,
..age of innocence,
has suddenly.. disappeared.
METAPHORS
my children suddenly have realised,
that,
..not only they are British,
..they are British Muslims.
.. that is ..what has happened.
that suddenly they have realised,
<Q oh I am a Muslim Q>.
..until now,
they were living,
… (2.0) as if they were any other British youngster.
..but now they particularly feel it.
..so that,
..age of innocence,
has suddenly.. disappeared.
METAPHORS-SOCIAL LANDSCAPE
my children suddenly have realised,
that,
..not only they are British,
..they are British Muslims.
.. that is ..what has happened.
s-l
that suddenly they have realised,
<Q oh I am a Muslim Q>.
..until now,
they were living,
… (2.0) as if they were any other British youngster.
..but now they particularly feel it.
..so that,
..age of innocence,
has suddenly.. disappeared.
s-l
PERSPECTIVE TAKING
my children suddenly have realised,
that,
..not only they are British,
..they are British Muslims.
.. that is ..what has happened.
that suddenly they have realised,
<Q oh I am a Muslim Q>.
..until now,
they were living,
… (2.0) as if they were any other British youngster.
..but now they particularly feel it.
..so that,
..age of innocence,
has suddenly.. disappeared.
EMPATHY
my children suddenly have realised,
that,
..not only they are British,
..they are British Muslims.
.. that is ..what has happened.
that suddenly they have realised,
<Q oh I am a Muslim Q>.
..until now,
they were living,
… (2.0) as if they were any other British youngster.
..but now they particularly feel it.
..so that,
..age of innocence,
has suddenly.. disappeared.
my children suddenly have realised,
that,
..not only they are British,
..they are British Muslims.
.. that is ..what has happened.
that suddenly they have realised,
<Q oh I am a Muslim Q>.
..until now,
they were living,
… (2.0) as if they were any other British youngster.
..but now they particularly feel it.
..so that,
..age of innocence,
has suddenly.. disappeared.
my children suddenly have realised,
that,
..not only they are British,
..they are British Muslims.
.. that is ..what has happened.
s-l
that suddenly they have realised,
<Q oh I am a Muslim Q>.
..until now,
they were living,
… (2.0) as if they were any other British youngster.
..but now they particularly feel it.
..so that,
..age of innocence,
has suddenly.. disappeared.
s-l
Closing remarks
Methods promising route to answering
research question
 Further work

Apply to remaining 11 groups
 Compare findings
 Connect empirical findings to
theoretical model of empathy

Thank you
http://www.open.ac.uk/researchprojects/livingwithuncertainty
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