#BoomerDoomer and #BoomerRemover
Discriminatory discursive strategies in the representation of the COVID-19 risk group on Twitter
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/jld.21074Keywords:
Discriminatory discursive strategies, discriminaging hashtags, COVID-19 Risk Group, intergenerational tension, ageismAbstract
A chronological-age ‘risk group’ has been singled out since the onset of the current pandemic due to the higher risk of serious illness and mortality from COVID-19 closely associated with ‘older age’. While this categorisation does not presuppose discrimination in itself, it appears to be a precondition for discursive discrimination. COVID-19 age-related risks have particularly exacerbated ageism on social media, fuelling discourses driven by intergenerational tension. Despite the importance of social media in contemporary communication, there is still scant research on the representation of ageism in these environments. This paper attempts to fill this void by exploring millennials’ use of the derogatory Twitter hashtags #BoomerDoomer and #BoomerRemover to discriminate ‘baby boomers’ as the COVID-19 risk group. Informed by Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) showing interest in discriminatory discourse in the media, the study aims at disclosing the main themes and discursive strategies used to construe ageist content in a sample of original tweets posted during the initial stage of the disease outbreak when the hashtags were trending. Framed by a CDA taxonomy of discriminatory discursive strategies, the combined thematic and discourse analysis highlights how the chosen topics and discursive strategies subtly perpetuate ageism, thus suggesting its resurgence in the COVID-19 era.
References
Ayalon, L. (2020) There is nothing new under the sun: Ageism and intergenerational tension in the age of the COVID-19 outbreak. International Psychogeriatrics 32(10): 1221–24. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1041610220000575
Boréus, K. (2006) Discursive discrimination: A typology. European Journal of Social Theory 9(3): 405–24. https://doi.org/10.1177/1368431006065721
Braun, V. and Clarke, V. (2006) Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology 3(2): 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
Brogden, M. (2001) Geronticide: Killing the Elderly. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers. https://doi.org/10.7748/ns.15.34.29.s49
Chen, M. and Flowerdew, J. (2019) Discriminatory discursive strategies in online comments on YouTube videos on the Hong Kong Umbrella Movement by Mainland and Hong Kong Chinese. Discourse and Society 30(6): 549–72. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926519870046
Coupland, J. (2009) Discourse, identity and change in mid-to-late life: Interdisciplinary perspectives on language and ageing. Ageing and Society 29(6): 849–61. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0144686x09008800
Denzin, N. K. (2017) The Research Act: A Theoretical Introduction to Sociological Methods. New York: Routledge.
Fairclough, N. (1992) Discourse and Social Change. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Flowerdew, J., Li, D. and Tran, S. (2002) Discriminatory news discourse: Some Hong Kong data. Discourse and Society 13(3): 319–45. https://doi.org/10.1177/0957926502013003052
Ford, T. E and Ferguson, M. A. (2004) Social consequences of disparagement humor: A prejudiced norm theory. Personality and Social Psychology Review 8(1): 79–94. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327957pspr0801_4
Fraser, S., Lagacé, M., Bongué, B., Ndeye, N., Guyot, J., Bechard, L., […] and Tougas, F. (2020) Ageism and COVID-19: What does our society’s response say about us? Age and Ageing 49(5): 692–5. https://doi.org/10.1093/ageing/afaa097
Gee, E. (2000) Voodoo demography, population aging, and Canadian social policy. In E. Gee and G. Gutman (eds) The Overselling of Population Ageing: Apocalyptic Demography, Intergenerational Challenges and Social Policy 5–25. Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0714980800000726
Halliday, M. A. K. (1976) Anti-Languages. American Anthropologist, New Series 78(3): 570–84. https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.1976.78.3.02a00050
Jäger, S. (2001) Discourse and knowledge: Theoretical and methodological aspects of a critical discourse dipositive analysis. In R. Wodak and M. Meyer (eds) Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis 32–63. London: Sage. https://doi.org/10.4135/9780857028020.n3
Jakovljevic, M., Jakovljevic, I., Bjedov, S., and Mustac, F. (2020) Psychiatry for better world: COVID-19 and blame games people play from public and global mental health perspective. Psychiatria Danubina 32(2): 221–8. https://doi.org/10.24869/psyd.2020.221
Makita, M., Mas-Bleda, A., Stuart, E. and Thelwall, M. (2021) Ageing, old age and older adults: A social media analysis of dominant topics and discourses. Ageing and Society 41(2): 247–72. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0144686x19001016
Meisner, B. A. (2020) Are you ok, Boomer? Intensification of ageism and intergenerational tensions on social media amid COVID-19. Leisure Sciences 43(1–2): 56–61. https://doi.org/10.1080/01490400.2020.1773983
Plastina, A. F. (2018) Hashtagging for health promotion: Constructing meaning as an #AntibioticGuardian. Altre Modernità, Special Issue on Language and Discourse in Social Media: New Challenges, New Approaches 87–106.
Rahman, A. and Jahan, Y. (2020) Defining a ‘risk group’ and ageism in the era of COVID-19. Journal of Loss and Trauma 25(8): 631–4. https://doi.org/10.1080/15325024.2020.1757993
Reisigl, M. (2007) Discrimination in discourses. In H. Kotthoff and H. Spencer-Oatey (eds) Handbook of Intercultural Communication 365–94. Berlin/New York: De Gruyter Mouton. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110198584.4.365
Reisigl, M. and Wodak, R. (2001) Discourse and Discrimination: Rhetorics of Racism and Antisemitism. London/New York: Routledge.
Søraa, R. A., Manzi, F., Kharas, Mark W., Marchetti, A., Massaro, D., Riva, G. and Serrano, J. A. (2020) Othering and deprioritizing older adults’ lives: Ageist discourses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Europe’s Journal of Psychology 16(4): 532–41. https://doi.org/10.5964/ejop.v16i4.4127
Stephan, W. G. and Stephan, C. W. (2000) An integrated threat theory of prejudice. In S. Oskamp (ed.) Reducing Prejudice and Discrimination 23–45. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Swift, H. J. and Chasteen, A. L. (2021) Ageism in the time of COVID-19. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations 24(2): 246–52. https://doi.org/10.1177/1368430220983452
The Gerontological Society of America. (2020) Understanding ageism and COVID-19. Retrieved on 8 June 2021 from https://www.geron.org/images/gsa/reframing/AgeismInfographic_final.pdf.
Turner, J. C. (1982) Towards a cognitive redefinition of the social group. In H. Tajfel (ed.) Social Identity and Intergroup Relations 15–40. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-13213-2_75
Twenge, J. M. and Campbell, W. K. (2009) The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement. New York: Atria Books.
van Dijk, T. A. (2000) New(s) racism: A discourse analytical approach. In S. Cottle (ed.) Ethnic Minorities and the Media 33–49. Maidenhead/Philadelphia: Open University Press.
van Dijk, T. A. (2002) Discourse and racism. In D. T. Goldberg and J. Solomos (eds) A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies 145–59. Malden, MA: Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1111/b.9780631206163.2002.x
van Dijk, T. A. (2011) Discourse, knowledge, power and politics: Towards critical epistemic discourse analysis. In C. Hart (ed.) Critical Discourse Studies in Context and Cognition 27–64. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/dapsac.43.03van
Wodak, R. (2009) The semiotics of racism: A critical discourse historical analysis. In J. Renkema (ed.) Discourse, of Course: An Overview of Research in Discourse Studies 311–26. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/z.148.29wod
World Health Organization. (2015) World Report on Ageing and Health. Geneva: WHO Press.
