Vistula lecturer co-authors article published in “Argumentation” by Springer

Mitchell Thomas Welle, a lecturer at Vistula University, is the co-author of a research article published in “Argumentation”, a journal issued by Springer. The article, written together with Nina Shtok and published in 2026, focuses on political language, argumentation and the mechanisms behind social polarisation.

The article, titled “Argumentation and Language in Identity Construction: A Discourse-Historical Analysis of Polarisation in the 2024 Trump-Harris Debate”, examines the 2024 Trump–Harris presidential debate. The authors analyse how argumentative structures and word choices contribute to the construction of opposing group identities – a positive “Us” and a hostile “Them”.

As Mitchell Thomas Welle explains, the article shows how candidates use specific linguistic and argumentative strategies to create divisions between groups. The authors examine, among other things, tactics such as attacking an opponent’s character, labelling political rivals and presenting certain groups as threats. The study also introduces the concept of “schematic affinities”, referring to links between types of arguments and identity-building strategies in political discourse.

The research is relevant not only to linguistics and argumentation theory, but also to civic education, journalism and critical thinking. It helps readers better understand how politicians construct “Us-versus-Them” divisions and how citizens can recognise these divisions as deliberately built rather than natural or inevitable.

The article was published in “Argumentation”, which, according to information provided by the author, is listed by the Polish Ministry of Science at 200 points in the academic discipline of linguistics.

Congratulations to the authors on this publication. We are pleased that the academic work of Vistula lecturers contributes to international scholarly debate.

More information and the full article are available here:
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10503-026-09709-z