Coping with gender-critical voices from within: A sociocognitive approach to Sussex’s Twitter (X) crisis responses

Altman Yuzhu Peng, Thomas William Whyke, Feng Gu

Research output: Journal PublicationArticlepeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

Drawing on critical discourse studies (CDS), this article foregrounds how British higher education institutions respond to gender-critical controversies sparked by their staff members. Adopting Teun van Dijk’s sociocognitive approach, we analyse the University of Sussex’s crisis responses on Twitter (known as X today) concerning de-platforming campaigns against Kathleen Stock. The analysis unpacks how Sussex employs various discursive strategies to validate its institutional stance in the Stock incident. Sussex’s communicative actions aim to mitigate reputation damage caused by the incident. However, such discursive practices simultaneously indicate the university’s attempt to evade its institutional responsibility for equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) advocacy, neither do they address the reputation crisis caused by fellow Twitter users’ counter-narratives. The analysis points towards the need for a sociocognitive analysis of crisis responses to hold higher education institutions accountable for their core mission, amid trans-rights debates unfolding in wider society.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)433-451
Number of pages19
JournalDiscourse and Communication
Volume18
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2024

Keywords

  • Crisis communication
  • Twitter (X)
  • critical discourse studies (CDS)
  • gender-critical feminism
  • higher education
  • sociocognitive approach
  • trans-exclusionary radical feminist (TERF)
  • transgender

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Communication
  • Linguistics and Language

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