"The post-antibiotic apocalypse" and the "war on superbugs": catastrophe discourse in microbiology, its rhetorical form and political function

Nerlich, Brigitte and James, Richard (2009) "The post-antibiotic apocalypse" and the "war on superbugs": catastrophe discourse in microbiology, its rhetorical form and political function. Public Understanding of Science, 18 (5). pp. 574-590. ISSN 0963-6625

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Abstract

Discourses evoking an antibiotic apocalypse and a war on superbugs are emerging just at a time when so-called "catastrophe discourses" are undergoing critical and reflexive scrutiny in the context of global warming and climate change. This article combines insights from social science research into climate change discourses with applied metaphor research based on recent advances in cognitive linguistics, especially with relation to "discourse metaphors." It traces the emergence of a new apocalyptic discourse in microbiology and health care, examines its rhetorical and political function and discusses its advantages and disadvantages. It contains a reply by the author of the central discourse metaphor, "the post-antibiotic apocalypse," examined in the article.

Item Type: Article
RIS ID: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/705531
Schools/Departments: University of Nottingham, UK > Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Sociology and Social Policy
Identification Number: 10.1177/0963662507087974
Depositing User: Nerlich, Professor Brigitte
Date Deposited: 14 Oct 2010 13:17
Last Modified: 04 May 2020 16:28
URI: https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/id/eprint/1296

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