A Rhetorical Criticism of Google´s European Identification Strategies

Sammanfattning: This thesis examines Google’s Executive Chairman Eric E. Schmidt’s speech at the European Innovation Convention 2011 from the perspectives of Kenneth Burke’s dramatism and identification theories. In the wider context it aims to contribute to the analyses of human progress traced through the history of our technologies and inventions. These breakthroughs do not happen or spread without beneficial influences from societal institutions in spheres like culture, philosophy, politics and law. Language is the creator and carrier of these institutions. A complicated “ecosystem” of culture, science, financing, laws and regulations, affects the possibilities for economic growth through innovation. Perhaps due to the contested legitimacy of corporations in the democratic process, the study of the messages of corporate entities in the political arena seems to be a fairly unexplored dimension of traditional rhetorical analysis of politics. Through rhetorical criticism the author seeks to better understand Google’s communication in this area, and to gain further insights into the communication strategies that companies may use to influence such complex fields of politics as Innovation Policy.