The Use of Metaphors in Constructing the Problem of Gender Inequality in the Russian and American Liberal Media Discourse

The present study presents a comparative analysis of the basic means of te gender inequality problem construction in the Russian and American liberal media discourse, in particular, it examines the use of rhetorical idioms and the metaphors that implement them. The social problems construction is examined from a linguistic standpoint: we include metaphorical models in the leitmotifs dimension, which are one the main means of re-conceptualizating and problematizating certain aspects of social reality. The results of the present study allow us to measure the potential of using metaphors as a mean of social problems construction and rhetorical idioms implementation, to draw conclusions about the features of the gender inequality problem representation in the Russian and American liberal discourse, as well as about the liberal agenda in the discourse of Russian liberal media in general.