ABSTRACT

A British coffee chain’s fundraising practices constitute a background for this study to examine ideological discourses behind British charitable giving. The charity executes projects in coffee growing communities by providing education for children in disadvantaged neighbourhoods. The study takes a critical stance from a discursive paradigmatic perspective to analyse visual contents used by the charity. The applied visual critical discourse analysis was inspired by Barthes’ semiotic theory. Findings suggest that the adverts’ interpretative repertoires can serve ideologies that sustain the donors’ social-cultural dominance over the recipients by justifying group-based social hierarchies. The chains of signifiers do not question the spectators’ moral position but rationalise status quo and maintain undisturbed consumption. Findings suggest the possibility that the discourses of prosocial behaviour incited under consuming conditions do not challenge but may even justify global inequality. This finding presents challenges facing charitable organisations balancing their work within wider commercial and cultural contexts.

抽象的

英国咖啡连锁店的筹款活动构成了这项研究的背景，该研究考察了英国慈善捐赠背后的意识形态话语。该慈善机构通过为弱势社区的儿童提供教育，在咖啡种植社区执行项目。该研究从话语范式的角度出发采取批判性立场来分析慈善机构使用的视觉内容。视觉批判性话语分析的应用受到巴特斯（Barthes）的符号学理论的启发。研究结果表明，广告者的解释性曲目可以通过证明基于群体的社会等级制度来维持捐助者对接收者的社会文化主导地位的意识形态。指称者的链条不质疑观众的道德立场，而是使现状合理化并保持不受干扰的消费。研究结果表明，在消费条件下煽动亲社会行为的话语可能不会挑战，甚至可能证明全球不平等是正当的。这一发现提出了慈善组织在更广泛的商业和文化背景下平衡其工作所面临的挑战。