F!!! In the name of the father. Abusing the discourse on reproduction

Abstract

Regulating sexuality has long been an institutional practice exercised towards the accomplishment of strategic economic and political ends. The fundamentally functional triad framing this practice is ‘power-ideology-discourse’. Relying on this general conceptual framework, the study’s prime objective is to identify and account for the elements of power abuse potentially present in the Macedonian government discourse on reproduction deployed as means of combating the problem of depopulation. Thus, within a critical discourse framework, the analysis focuses on linguistic manifestations of power abuse present in texts and talks produced by the Government and on their discursive relations with underlying and supporting practices, policies and procedures.