ABSTRACT

The Race Disparity Audit (RDA) was published in 2017 by the then Conservative government of the UK. The proclaimed aims were to ‘reveal racial disparities and to help end the injustices that many people experience’. This paper adopts a critical discourse analysis approach to analysing the RDA and associated webpages, to critically examine the government’s purported aims. The linguistic analysis reveals a pernicious form of political doublespeak which effects a maintenance of the status quo. In excluding racism as a cause of disparities, the audit acts to de-legitimise anti-racism as part of the solution, thereby preventing actions with the potential to end racial injustices. The analysis is explained by reference to Feagin’s (2013. The White racial frame. Centuries of racial framing and counter-framing (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge) White racial frame in institutional operation. The paper concludes by exposing the ramifications of this for future policy development by reference to an education policy development borne from the RDA.

摘要

种族差异审计 (RDA) 由当时的英国保守党政府于 2017 年发布。宣布的目标是“揭示种族差异并帮助结束许多人所经历的不公正”。本文采用批判性话语分析法来分析 RDA 和相关网页，以批判性地审视政府声称的目标。语言分析揭示了一种有害的政治双重言论形式，它会影响维持现状。在将种族主义排除在差异的原因之外，审计将反种族主义合法化作为解决方案的一部分，从而防止可能结束种族不公正的行动。该分析参考了 Feagin 的（2013 年。白人种族框架。几个世纪的种族框架和反框架（第 2 版）。纽约州纽约市：Routledge）制度运作中的白人种族框架。本文最后通过参考 RDA 承担的教育政策制定，揭示了这对未来政策制定的影响。