You Have No Chance of Convincing Your Grandma, so How about Going to the Polls? Strategically Counter-Productive Persuasion of Young (Non)Voters

Abstract

The article introduces a pragma-dialectical approach to argumentation. It presents the tools of the standard version of pragma-dialectics (ideal model of critical discussion, argument scheme, argumentation structure) and its extended version (communicative activity type, strategic maneuvering). The use of these tools is illustrated in a case study of the video Přemluv bábu (Convince your grandma, 2010). The standard version’s tools are used to answer the question “What argumentation is presented by Mádl and Issová?” The article illustrates a procedure of reconstructing the argumentative utterance: i.e. identifying the relevant elements 
of argumentation and reconstructing the used argumentation structure and argument schemes. The tools of the extended pragma-dialectics’ version are used to answer the question: “What argumentative strategy is used by Mádl and Issová to enhance the acceptability of a standpoint with regard to the intended audience?”
The characterization of a communicative activity type of engaged political comedy and constraints resulting from its conventions are presented. Then, an analysis of so-called strategic counterproductivity is presented.