Performance, Politics and Boris Johnson's Brexit

Date

2021

Journal Title

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Abstract

Modern day politics is a global affair with politicians now having an unparalleled opportunity to communicate manifesto points via a range of media (see e.g., Grabe and Bucy, 2009). Most, if not all, significant election campaigns now feature a press officer who directs such broadcasts and regular media training is de rigueur for anybody with political aspirations. Such ubiquitous and uniform treatment of the broadcast message ensures that successful politicians need to develop a unique performance style to stand out from the crowd. Here, we consider the effects that a politician's unique media presence can have on the outcome of an election, specifically the 2019 UK General Election. As will be shown the role of non-verbal (or paralinguistic) communication is key to understanding the efficacy of such a political style.

Description

© 2021 Senior, Stewart, Bucy and Lee. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

Keywords

Non-Verbal Behaviour, Politics, Performance, Populism, Brexit

Citation

Senior C, Stewart P, Bucy E and Lee N (2021) Performance, Politics and Boris Johnson's Brexit. Front. Psychol. 12:709756. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.709756

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