IDEOLOGICAL POLARIZATION IN RELIGIOUS DISCOURSE: A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF MORAL LABELING IN PAKISTANI MEDIA

Abstract

This paper explores the ideological polarisation in Pakistani popular discourse with reference to the functioning of moral labeling in three mediated forms: the television talk shows, the newspaper opinion column and the Friday sermons. Based on theoretical instruments of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) - in particular, the ideological square provided by Van Dijk and the socio-political approach by Fairclough - as well as the moral psychology concepts (the moral superiority theory), the paper examines the linguistic tools that build positive self-presentation and negative other-presentation, use moral frames of sanctity and authority, and amplify the moral superiority claims. Based on purposive sampling of recent televised section and print column of major Pakistani newspapers, as well as printed sermon snippets, the study will use a multi-level CDA (lexico-semantic, syntactic, rhetoric, interactional) to find recurring patterns of moral labelling. It has been found that there is systematic lexicalization of opponents as immoral, anti-Islam or traitorous (negative other-representation), regular foregrounding of religious-moral metaphors as a strategy to justify political stances and interactional strategies that bar dialogic contestation. The paper concludes that in the Pakistani media, moral labelling reinforces in-group solidarity and delegitimates opponents through the reinventation of polarized publics and elimination of deliberative possibilities. The implications are addressed to the media practice, interventions to counter-polarization, and religious leadership.