DEATH, POWER RELATIONS, AND DISCOURSE IN THE PERUVIAN PRESS: “THE MACHINE THAT CAUSED THE DEATH OF TWO YOUNG PEOPLE AT MCDONALD’S”

Chenguayen F.J.D.; Cáceres D.I.C. · Metafora (2023) · DOI: 10.36286/mrlad.v3i6.159

Resumen

In view of the event in which two workers at the McDonald’s restaurant died, a set of questions and speculations arose among the local population regarding the workplace where they worked and their conditions. This article analyzes the way in which the Peruvian written press has covered the event through a set of speeches from different Peruvian newspapers. After the analysis, it is evidenced that the press has constructed different discursive representations of these two social actors involved in the event: the fast-food restaurant chain and its deceased employees. On the one hand, the analyzed speeches recreate a positive image of the restaurant, which hides its agentive character, and exalts its beneficial features. On the other hand, discursively, employees are endowed with a negative image as the sole cause of their death and excluded or displaced from their employment relationship with the restaurant.

Instituciones: Universidad Científica del Sur; Universidad Nacional de San Antonio Abad del Cusco; Universidad Tecnológica del Perú