'Hurtling down the track': The significance of Australian population debates in an era of anxiety. (December 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Jacobs, Keith
• Is Part Of: Journal of sociology. Volume 51:Number 4(2015:Oct.)
• Page Start: 799
• Page End: 811
• Publication Date: 2015-12
• Subjects: political forces -- population -- population policy -- sociological theory; Sociology -- Periodicals; Sociology -- Australia -- Periodicals; 301.05
• DOI: 10.1177/1440783312473670
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1440-7833

Abstract

This article focuses on some of the fantasies underpinning contemporary politics and the way that these 'perform', in effect, to occlude more complex understandings. To develop my argument, I deploy a critical discourse analysis to consider the narratives used by politicians during the 2010 Australian Federal election campaign to galvanise popular support by raising the 'threat' posed by large-scale population growth. I argue that narratives framing 'population growth as unsustainable' have a resonance with sections of the electorate because they connect to a sense of unease about the present and the future. The vexed debates surrounding population size are indicative of anxieties that lie beneath the surface of political discourse.