Representation of Socioeconomic Issues in Zohran Mamdani's Political Speeches: A Critical Discourse Analysis

Fikri, Muhammad Reza Rizalul (2026) Representation of Socioeconomic Issues in Zohran Mamdani's Political Speeches: A Critical Discourse Analysis. Sarjana thesis, UIN Sunan Gunung Djati Bandung.

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Abstract

This study examines the representation of socioeconomic issues in Zohran Mamdani’s political speeches across four stages of his political trajectory: the Democratic Mayoral Primary Speech, Mayoral Victory Speech, Inaugural Speech, and First 100-Day Speech. The study focuses on four socioeconomic issues, namely housing, public transportation, childcare, and class inequality. This study employs a qualitative research design grounded in Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), using Fairclough’s Three-Dimensional Model as the primary analytical framework. The analysis examines four linguistic features at the textual dimension, namely lexical choices, pronoun use, modality, and metaphors, followed by analysis of the discursive practice dimension through genre and context, interdiscursivity, and intertextuality, and the social practice dimension through ideological self-positioning, hegemonic naturalization, and structural antagonists. The findings show that the four socioeconomic issues follow a similar underlying pattern across Mamdani’s political trajectory, moving from an early moral vision to a concrete policy promise, an institutional commitment, and a documented outcome. This progression is reflected in the linguistic patterns, where lexical choices move from aspirational to technocratic, pronoun use shifts from movement-based collectivity toward accountability-oriented collectivity, modality develops from promissory to reporting, and metaphors move from identity-defining to direction-defining. The analysis further reveals that the discursive function changes across the four stages, from mobilization in the campaign stage, to positioning in the victory stage, to legitimation in the inauguration stage, and to accountability in the governance stage. Despite these discursive shifts, Mamdani’s ideological commitments remain consistent, while their function changes according to his changing institutional position and access to political power. Thus, the representation of socioeconomic issues demonstrates how language, ideology, and power are interconnected across the transition from seeking political authority to exercising it.

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