POLITICAL LANGUAGE IN SILICON VALLEY

LOBBYINGA CASE STUDY ON WHETHER CORPORATE CULTURE EFFECTS

THE LANGUAGE USED IN WASHINGTON LOBBYING

By John Perrino

WAIT WHAT? AND WHO CARES?

Content analysis of policy statements, blogs, government agency comments, and letters to Washington lawmakers

The answer could lead to improvements in Washington lobbying through more effective political communication

… AKA More bang for $$

SIDE NOTE…THIS IS SUPER CUTE GIF IS IN THE LATEST POST ON THE GOOGLE PUBLIC POLICY BLOG

HOW ABOUT SOME THEORY?

yakkityyaks.com

“IT IS LANGUAGE ABOUT POLITICAL EVENTS, NOT THE EVENTS IN ANY OTHER SENSE, THAT PEOPLE EXPERIENCE… POLITICAL LANGUAGE IS POLITICAL REALITY”

ISSUE FRAMING

“SINCE A GIVEN POLICY TYPICALLY HAS MANY DIFFERENT IMPLICATIONS, IT CAN BE LINKED WITH MANY COMPETING IMAGES.... POLITICAL STRUGGLE, THEN, INVOLVES CONFLICT OVER THE DEFINITION OF POLICY IMAGES.”

(BAUMGARTNER & JONES, 1993)

POLITICAL COMMUNICATION IN LOBBYING

“LOBBYING IS ESSENTIALLY A FORM OF PERSUASIVE COMMUNICATION IN THE POLITICAL ARENA.” (MCGRATH, 2007)

POLITICAL COMMUNICATION IN LOBBYING“…THE PRIMARY CURRENCY AND THE ROOT OF ALL POWER ON CAPITOL HILL IS INFORMATION” (VINCENT, 1990)

LOBBYISTS THEREFORE…

“SELECT SOME ASPECTS OF A PERCEIVED REALITY AND MAKE THEM MORE SALIENT” (ENTMAN, 1993)

WHAT IS SILICON VALLEY CULTURE?

BUT HOW AM I GOING TO DEFINE THE CULTURE?

• NEWS REPORTS• ACADEMIC JOURNALS• PSYCHOLOGY• MANAGEMENT AND ORGANIZATIONAL COMMUNICATION

“Many see their social responsibility fulfilled by their businesses, not by social or political action,”

“One of the mottoes posted on the walls at Facebook is move fast and break things. Government is considered slow, staffed by mediocrities, ridden with obsolete rules and inefficiencies.”The New Yorker (May 27, 2013)

White House

White House

THE MATURATION OF SILICON VALLEY

Flickr User Mike Deerkoski under CC BY 2.0

SO WHAT DEFINES SILICON VALLEY LANGUAGE?• LIBERTARIAN• YET, ALSO EGALITARIAN• AND PROGRESSIVE• MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE• RAPID INNOVATION• OPTIMISM• MISSING WASHINGTON FORMALITY

LOOKING FORWARD…

• COMPARE THIS LANGUAGE AGAINST TELEPHONE UTILITY INDUSTRY LOBBYING DURING THE YEAR 2014• RUN A CONTENT ANALYSIS ON THE LANGUAGE OF

THESE DOCUMENTS• DETERMINE WHETHER THERE IS A MEASURABLE

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE INDUSTRIES

“Unhappily, it is an extraordinarily difficult research problem to ascertain the bases for judgment made by these decision makers.” (Milbrath, 1960)

Nevertheless, this content analysis could indicate whether lobbyists should adapt typical Washington language… or if they’re better off taking California Casual into the Beltway.