Book contents
- Manipulation, Influence and Deception
- Manipulation, Influence and Deception
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- I (Re)framing Persuasion
- II Persuasion and (New) Contexts of Use
- III The Dark Side of Persuasion
- 8 The Importance of Context in Analysing the Incitement of Violence
- 9 ‘I’d Say That Being Here Has Helped Me’
- 10 Language, Manipulation, and Online Radicalisation
- IV Persuasion and Algorithms
- V Discussion
- Index
- References
8 - The Importance of Context in Analysing the Incitement of Violence
A Case Study of an Online Community
from III - The Dark Side of Persuasion
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 June 2025
By
Book contents
- Manipulation, Influence and Deception
- Manipulation, Influence and Deception
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- I (Re)framing Persuasion
- II Persuasion and (New) Contexts of Use
- III The Dark Side of Persuasion
- 8 The Importance of Context in Analysing the Incitement of Violence
- 9 ‘I’d Say That Being Here Has Helped Me’
- 10 Language, Manipulation, and Online Radicalisation
- IV Persuasion and Algorithms
- V Discussion
- Index
- References
Summary
This study explores the importance of a full(er) understanding of ‘context’ when analysing and interpreting the indirect incitement of violence, a speech act closely related to that of persuasion. Using descriptions of context from Systemic Functional Linguistics (Bowcher, 2014; Hasan, 2014, 2020), the chapter qualitatively examines a small number of selected extracts from a very particular online community – a pick-up artist (PUA) forum. The main argument here is that the contextual configuration of the discourse, in terms of the nature the community and the participants in it, is such that posts which on the face of it appear to be giving advice or expressing opinions could be potentially inciteful in this context. Incitement has typically received relatively little linguistic attention, and indirect incitement poses a specific challenge for linguistics and law alike. This chapter goes some way to providing a new perspective from which the elusive discursive action of incitement can be analysed and interpreted.
Keywords
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- Chapter
- Information
- Manipulation, Influence and DeceptionThe Changing Landscape of Persuasive Language, pp. 157 - 176Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025
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