Great topic! Great conference!<\/p>\n
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13th<\/sup> International Conference on Organizational Discourse<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cDeception, Demonization and Dissection\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0Cass Business School, City University of London, 11th<\/sup> – 13th<\/sup> July 2018<\/i><\/b><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Call for Papers:<\/p>\n […]<\/p>\n „The 13th<\/sup> Conference is intended to accommodate a rich variety of perspectives on organizational discourse in order to grasp \u2018where we are\u2019. This is far from easy. A major analytic theme in organizational discourse has been a focus on the intrinsic ambiguity of discourse and yet we are confronted by an emergent global authoritarianism which paints societies in the starkest shades of black and white. These are quite singular narratives which feed off the truth claims of \u2018post-facts\u2019 and \u2018alternative facts\u2019 which, in turn, appear to reflect increasing global insecurity and inequality.<\/em><\/p>\n Hence, the 2018 theme of \u2018deception\u2019 calls for analyses of the ever-expanding litany of authoritarian narratives which have been deployed to legitimise social and political changes which are stripping away the norms, values and practices of social democracy. At the macro-level, \u2018conversations\u2019 and \u2018debate\u2019 are being replaced by ideological diktat. What were once considered the \u2018rational arguments\u2019 of now discredited \u2018experts\u2019 have been jettisoned for evangelistic mass meetings demanding the destruction of the \u2018Other\u2019.<\/em><\/p>\n This links directly to our theme of \u2018demonisation\u2019. This has emerged as a core feature of \u2018where we are now\u2019. Trump\u2019s \u2018wall\u2019 is to be built between all varieties of the \u2018Other\u2019 \u2013 virtually anyone who is somehow \u2018foreign\u2019 to whomever has been imagined as the \u2018normal\u2019 citizen have come under scrutiny and discrimination if not attack. This theme calls for work exploring the discursive construction of these Others and how they are now projected as undesirable.<\/em><\/p>\n But, of course, discourse has to be enacted and this demands an understanding of socio-economic and political context. And, more importantly, authoritarian demands have not been uncontested. Indeed, there are signs of vigorous if, as yet, unsuccessful resistance. Our third theme, \u2018dissection\u2019 is intended to explore \u2018where we are going\u2019. It targets analyses of how authoritarian narratives are being discursively translated into social action and social practices and how they are being socially contested.<\/em><\/p>\n