Diversity, Woke and the War of Words: the Role of Journalistic Discourse in Shaping Ideological Conflict Around Diversity

This study employs a Modern Diachronic Corpus-Assisted Discourse Studies (MD-CADS) approach (Alessi and Partington 2020; Partington 2010) to analyze how the term diversity has evolved in The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph during the COVID-19 pandemic and in 2023. Drawing on forced lexical priming and the illusory truth effect, it examines how repeated linguistic patterns shape sociopolitical attitudes. A diachronic comparison with data from 1993 to 2023 reveals a shift from diversity as an inclusive, progressive ideal to a contested concept linked to criticism and ideology, especially in right-leaning media. Key discursive features include scare quotes that distance speakers from the term, the attempted institutionalization of a novel and 'our' concept of diversity in right-wing political discourse and the use of woke as a pejorative collocate now used in contexts where terms like ‘diversity’ and ‘inclusion’—still quite difficult to challenge—once appeared. The findings highlight how media language influences polarized political debates and underscore the need for critical media literacy in contemporary society