Day 1:

This was a day focused on actioning what I had discussed with my mentor the previous week. To start with, I made changes to my coding scheme to extend the draft I started last week. I made notable changes to the sections focused on how sentences were constructed and analysed, but I also expanded my ground work table which set the foundation for what I am looking for in each text.

I was also able to finish my practice discourse analysis, which was a challenge to start with but by the end I feel that I now understand how this operates and how I need to work to ensure that it is effective. The instructions and guidance Dan gave me previously relating to the coding of quasi sentences made it a lot easier to focus on the meaningful aspects of sentences which I was coding. One challenge here was deciding how some sentences which fit into multiple discourse should be coded, as I feel that many of the RED and SID sentences have a section of interchange and cross over.

Day 2:

Today was more completion of what I discussed with my mentor. After checking over my discourse analysis scheme and the edits I made yesterday once more, I started to read some secondary literature to assess what they said about the leaders of Labour. The main purpose of this is to identify if there is a fourth discourse which is overlooked by Levitas or has simply been created after her work.

I started with Journal articles which had been recommended to me, mostly relating to Purple and Blue Labour and how they identify different directions and discourses in policy after New Labour. One thing that stuck out to me here is the idea of a ‘localisation’ approach, in which devolution became the focus to shift the way in which government policy centralised power. I will keep this in mind as I continue to read, however this seems like a potential fourth discourse within the Labour Party under Miliband particularly and potentially Corbyn too.

Day 3:

This was the second day of reading secondary literature. I have analysed and annotated four journal articles which are of use to my project and made sure that has been updated in my overview.

The main article of interest which I researched today is one by Judy Atkins, focusing on the development of Labour Party policy and the idea of ‘One Nation Labour’. This is not a concept I have come across a lot, as this is a string of political thought often linked and attributed to Conservative ideology. The idea of Miliband as a creator of a new brand of Labour was one that was extremely interesting to me, and I feel that this is a key aspect of identifying further discourses in my project. Tomorrow, I hope to begin to source literature for my discourse analysis.

Day 4:

Sourcing literature for the next step of my project was the main aim today, and I was able to find the essential pieces of reading for each leader. This was made up of any manifestos which were published under their leadership, so the 2015 Manifesto for Ed Miliband and the 2017/2019 Manifesto for Jeremy Corbyn. The speeches I have sourced are those made by the Leader of the Opposition from 2010-2020 at Party Conference, as well as those made the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Shadow Cabinet Minister for the Department for Work and Pensions.

The main issue I have come across with this is the fact that there is very little for Keir Starmer, due to the small-time frame for which he has been Party Leader and had his shadow cabinet in place. While I have been able to source information from his speech when he became leader and from 2020 Party Conference, I feel most interesting information will come from the 2021 Party Conference. Due to this, my research may have to be adapted over the coming months if I am to present this at any academic conferences or publish my work.

Day 5:

This is the last day of Week 3, meaning I am halfway through my project! I am excited to be at a midpoint, and after this week my project is starting to take form and I feel like I can see how it is developing.

Today focused on reading the physical texts that I ordered a few weeks ago. First, I had to go through each text and mark out the sections which would be relevant to my research before reading. After reading each section, I made an overview table for me to be able to assess what information they held and what use it had overall.

I think one of the most useful texts was ‘Rebuilding Social Democracy’, a text edited by Kevin Hickson, as it had a detailed account of welfare development under the Labour Party, as well as the barriers to social cohesion. As a text, it heavily supported Levitas’ discourses, therefore supports my ongoing research.