Regaining trust through argumentation in the context of the current financial-economic crisis

Palmieri, Rudy

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Journal article

Regaining trust through argumentation in the context of the current financial-economic crisis

Palmieri, Rudy Istituto Linguistico-Semiotico (ILS), Facoltà di scienze della comunicazione, Università della Svizzera italiana, Svizzera

2009

Published in:

Studies in communication sciences. - Università della Svizzera italiana. - 2009, vol. 9, no. 2, p. 59-78

English This paper considers argumentation in the context of the current economic-financial crisis by focusing on the attempt made by UBS bank to retain stakeholders’ confidence. as a case in point, i analyze a press release through which the bank announces important changes in the Board of Directors. the text includes a clearly argumentative aim: convince stakeholders, in particular clients, to retain their confidence in the bank. the message exploits and emphasizes the positive qualities of the would-be chairman and indirectly levers on the interests and emotions of the concerned audience, to bring to the inferential structure of the argument those shared values (endoxa) that make it “trustworthy,” i.e. persuasive.

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