Disagreement and mitigation in power-asymmetrical venture capital reality TV shows

A comparative case study of Shark Tank in the US and Dragon’s Den in China

Datos Bibliográficos

ID12859872
AutoresHuiyu Zhang (0000-0002-1354-1581, Zhejiang University), Zhao Jun-xiang (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Yicheng Wu (0000-0003-2284-0417, Zhejiang University, autor de correspondencia)
Año2021
Volumen18
Número2
Páginas245-276
Fecha de publicación2021-03-13
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaIntercultural Pragmatics (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1612-295X • E-ISSN: 1613-365X
EditorialDe Gruyter (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1515/ip-2021-2004
OpenAlexW3135914956
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas2
Referencias citadas59

This paper examines the relationships among cultural variation, power, disagreement, and mitigation devices. Based on a multi-modal analysis of original data from two TV shows ( Shark Tank in the US and Dragon’s Den in China), it is found that investors’ linguistic performance shows greater frequency and variation in both disagreement and its mitigation, influenced by power and politeness. Regarding the role of cultural variation, this study challenges some stereotypical conceptions of culture with the finding that Chinese participants use negation more often than their US counterparts. Meanwhile, Chinese and American participants choose different disagreement-mitigation formats: In the US Shark Tank investors tend to initiate disagreements by enforcing explicitness and entrepreneurs tend to mitigate them by offering explanations, while in the Chinese Dragon’s Den investors tend to utter negations and then mitigate them with qualifiers or alternative statements. Moreover, the American show also contains cases where the pre-set power-asymmetrical relationship changes during the course of presentation, and entrepreneurs with increasing power start to challenge investors by asking them various questions. However, this alteration of power relationships appears to be more difficult in the Chinese context

Business · Capital (architecture · China · Context (archaeology · Linguistics · Negation · Politeness · Political science · Power (physics · Set (abstract data type · Variation (astronomy · Computer Science · History · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition · Law · Multilingual Education and Policy · Psychology · Social Psychology · Marketing