‘Aggressively Defensive’: Managing Perceived Threats to the Nation

Abstract

In the previous chapter we used examples of ‘everyday talk’ to explore the ways in which people drew on, and constituted, a largely taken- for-granted national discourse. This was evidenced with reference to a range of micro-linguistic features as well as the ‘common-sense’ assumptions and forms of knowledge used to make sense of particular issues. This framework should not be seen as all encompassing, it was, after all, often ignored or rejected. Rather, we might want to view it as a powerful framing device that allows people to interpret, explain and, sometimes, justify events, actions or social relations. Or to borrow an earlier analogy, it can be seen as a map that, in guiding people through the social world, becomes valuable in both practical and ontological terms.