Calling the working-class back into being: the constitutive rhetoric of trade union leadership

In Western economies, neoliberal hegemony has contributed to the cultural erosion of class. Yet with class disidentification, awareness of structural inequality can be obscured and the working-class depoliticised. Despite this, there is a lack of literature and analysis of high-profile activist rhetoric in the UK which could challenge this consensus. As a unique case study, I rhetorically analyse the speeches and media interviews of a prominent UK trade union leader to show how they utilise specific techniques in attempts to reconstruct a working-class identity and invite audience identification. In doing so I contribute to literature on class consciousness and proffer constitutive rhetoric as an emancipatory tool for challenging hegemony and reinstating the political identity of the working-class.