From 'special but shadowed' to beloved but expendable

A Study of Pandemic-Era News Media and the Public's Perception of the Teacher's Role

Bibliographic Data

ID2924310
AuthorsDavis Thorton (Both of Department of Literacy, Language, and Culture, The University of Southern Maine, Portland, ME, USA, corresponding author), Andrea Stairs-Davenport (Both of Department of Literacy, Language, and Culture, The University of Southern Maine, Portland, ME, USA)
Year2025
Volume46
Issue5
Pages1-15
Publication date2025-01-14
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueDiscourse Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0159-6306 • E-ISSN: 1469-3739
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01596306.2025.2451849
OpenAlexW4406407548
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited14

This study examines how the news media during the COVID-19 pandemic perpetuated Dan Lortie’s [1975. Schoolteacher: A sociological study. University of Chicago Press] notion of the teacher’s role as ‘special but shadowed.’ Employing Metaphorical Coding and Critical Discourse Analysis, this study analyzes pandemic-era media accounts published in the United States from March 2020 to March 2022 to investigate how the media naturalized the public's perception of the teacher's role as beloved but expendable, a modern echo of Lortie's ‘special but shadowed.’

Epistemology · Media studies · News media · Pandemic · Perception · Political science · Politics · Public discourse · Sociology · Communication in Education and Healthcare · Educator Training and Historical Pedagogy · Gender Studies · History · Law · Medicine · Philosophy · Social Media and Politics

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