Gender and Ideology in Children’s Fiction: A Critical Discourse Analysis
Abstract
The current study is qualitative in nature. It employs critical discourse analysis (CDA) to investigate the ideological representations of gender in nine Algerian short stories. Drawing on Thompson's understanding of ideology, this study examines the presence of gender ideologies in the texts and identifies their symbolic form and construction. It uses specifically Thompson’s (1990) schema concerning the typical linguistic modes through which ideology operates. The analysis focuses on particular strategies being more evident than others, such as universalization, rationalization, displacement, naturalization, and eternalization. The analysis shows that the writer's use of these strategies, whether consciously or unconsciously, as part of characterization and positioning, contributes to the (re)production of gender stereotypes and gender asymmetries.
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