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Journal article
The power of "small business" as pending narrative
Social semiotics, Vol.26(1), pp.19-35
01/01/2016
Web of Science ID: WOS:000366210200002
Abstract
This paper explores utilisation of the term small business in contemporary politics in the United Kingdom. First, the policy and practice implications of the term small business are examined, through the lens of political rhetoric. Use of the term over the period from 2004 to 2013 is examined, drawing upon the DataArt Guardian NewsTraces platform as both a method of initially visualising an overall pattern of the term's use during the 10-year period, and a medium for facilitating data collection for analysis. The research question is: how is the term "small business" used in political rhetoric in the UK, in the identification of policy problems and solutions, and the creation of pending narrative? It is determined that the term small business is an ideograph with different and often competing meanings for various interest groups, and suffers from serious imprecision despite policy efforts which strive for legitimacy. Even with spikes in use reflecting election cycles and periods of economic stress, the term's power is in its mutable but appealing vagueness, and its enduring quality as pending narrative. This leaves open obvious questions of both policy efficacy and the sufficiency of ideographic-laced rhetoric as a substitute for meaningful policy.
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Details
- Title
- The power of "small business" as pending narrative
- Publication Details
- Social semiotics, Vol.26(1), pp.19-35
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publisher
- Routledge
- Copyright
- © 2015 Taylor & Francis
- Identifiers
- WOS:000366210200002; 99380175997106600
- Academic Unit
- Business Administration; Lewis Bear Jr. College of Business
- Language
- English