Abstract
This study investigates “the economy as a living organism” metaphor in Iranian economic discourse. The research data consist of metaphorical expressions grounded in this conceptual metaphor, extracted from the economic discourse of several domestic Persian-language newspapers (including Donya-ye Eqtesad, Jahan-e San’at, SAMT, Eqtesad-e Melli, and Tejarat) over a four-month period from Khordad to Shahrivar 1404 (June–September 2025). The data were analyzed within the framework of Conceptual Metaphor Theory (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980) and the Critical Metaphor Analysis approach (Charteris-Black, 2004). The findings indicate that this metaphor, functioning as a higher-order conceptual key, plays a fundamental role in conceptualizing Iran’s economic conditions and its numerous challenges, largely due to the richness of its source domain (i.e., the living organism). In this conceptualization, various aspects of the existence and life of a living being—particularly a human—including body parts, actions and behaviors, states of health and illness, characteristics, and the actions performed upon living beings, are employed through diverse metaphorical expressions to represent different dimensions of the economy and economic processes. The results further suggest that “the economy as a living organism” metaphor has cognitive, emotional, persuasive, and ideological functions within economic discourse.
Keywords: Conceptual metaphor, economic discourse, metaphorical conceptualization, Critical Metaphor Analysis, Critical Discourse Analysis
1. Introduction
Metaphor is among the essential conceptual and linguistic tools for articulating and communicating economic and financial issues and events, and it is widely used in media texts. Extensive empirical studies conducted within the cognitive linguistics approach indicate that metaphor plays a fundamental role in the domain of economics, just as it does in other significant areas of human life. In fact, a considerable portion of our economic thinking is metaphorically grounded, and we comprehend many economic concepts based on metaphor. One of the most important and frequently studied conceptual metaphors in economic language and discourse is the “ECONOMY AS A LIVING ORGANISM” metaphor, in which concepts from the domain of living beings are mapped onto the domain of economics (see, for example, Charteris-Black and Ennis, 2001; White, 2003; Wang et al., 2013; Domaradzki, 2016). The aim of the present study is to examine the conceptual metaphor “ECONOMY AS A LIVING ORGANISM” within a corpus of Persian data in order to determine how this metaphor is manifested in Persian economic discourse and what role it plays in conceptualizing various economic and financial issues and topics.
2. Materials & Methods
The research data, which comprise a corpus of metaphorical expressions based on the aforementioned conceptual metaphor, have been extracted from the headlines and articles of several Persian-language domestic newspapers (e.g., Donya-e-Eqtesad, Jahan-e-Sanat, Samat, Eqtesad-e-Melli, Tejarat) over a four-month period from early June to late September 2025. These data are analyzed based on Conceptual Metaphor Theory (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980; Lakoff, 1993) and the Critical Metaphor Analysis approach (Charteris-Black, 2004). The central research questions are as follows: 1) How is the conceptual metaphor “ECONOMY AS A LIVING ORGANISM” manifested in the economic discourse of the domestic press? 2) What role does this metaphor play in economic discourse?
3. Discussion & Results
The metaphorical expressions based on the personification of the economy, which themselves constitute linguistic metaphors and numerous examples of which have been provided in the data, correspond at a higher level to several conceptual metaphors, including: “THE BAD STATE OF IRAN'S ECONOMY IS THE POOR HEALTH OF A LIVING BEING/PERSON,” “ECONOMIC PROBLEMS ARE ILLNESS,” “ECONOMIC REFORM IS TREATMENT,” “THE DESTRUCTIVE ECONOMIC AGENT IS A VIRUS,” “LARGE COMPANIES ARE LARGE LIVING BEINGS (E.G., GIANTS),” and “THE ECONOMY IS A HUMAN.” In the personification metaphors within the economic domain, what is highlighted above any other feature or aspect is the unfavorable economic situation of Iran, which is conceptualized through the health status of a living being and is manifested in numerous words and expressions such as coma, comatose, sick/ill, wound, lifeless, last breaths, and weak pulse. The second most prominent theme, though less prominent than the first, concerns the government's efforts to improve Iran's economic situation—efforts that nevertheless appear futile or ineffective, expressed through expressions such as surgery, treatment, and painkiller.
These metaphors embody a particular framing; that is, they conceptualize Iran economics within a specific framework intended by the media or journalist, thereby unconsciously influencing the audience's mindset and attitude toward the country's economic conditions. Metaphors inherently entail framing and evaluation, and a significant portion of this framing and evaluation is achieved through the two processes of highlighting and hiding. It seems that the most important theme marginalized or concealed within the conceptual key “ECONOMY AS A LIVING ORGANISM” and its subordinate conceptual metaphors is the role of human agents and the decisions or policies of individuals or institutions in determining the economic situation and conditions. When we conceptualize the economy as a living organism, including a human being, we unconsciously attribute to it a natural process of development. Within this natural process, stages such as birth, growth, and death, as well as states such as illness and health, are considered integral parts of the economy's life cycle. Consequently, the factors responsible for bringing about these stages and states—factors that are largely political and economic individuals and institutions—are pushed to the margins.
4. Conclusion
An examination of how the metaphor “ECONOMY AS A LIVING ORGANISM” manifests itself in a corpus of Persian data in this study reveals that this metaphor, which in fact constitutes a conceptual key (i.e., an overarching or superordinate conceptual metaphor), plays a significant role in conceptualizing Iran's economic situation and its numerous problems due to the richness of its source domain. This source domain encompasses various dimensions of life as well as diverse physical and behavioral characteristics of living organisms, particularly humans. In this conceptualization, various aspects—including body parts of the living organism, its actions and behaviors, its various states, its attributes, the entirety of a living organism, and even actions that we perform upon living organisms—are employed in the form of various metaphorical words and expressions to articulate different dimensions of the economy and economic processes.
One of the important consequences of the “ECONOMY AS A LIVING ORGANISM” metaphor is the naturalization of economic crises. When we speak of a sick economy, the pain of industry, the summer slumber of the housing market, the gradual death of the garment industry, and the last breaths of production, the economic crisis is portrayed not as a product of government policies and decisions, institutional structures, or power relations, but rather as a biological affliction or a natural process. This type of conceptualization unintentionally (or perhaps intentionally) downplays the responsibility of accountable institutions and human agents, thereby reducing the potential for accountability and critique.
Another consequence of personifying the economy is that the economy is transformed into a subject endowed with feeling and agency, as in expressions such as sick economy, lifeless housing market, and vulnerable stock market. On the one hand, these framings aid public understanding (cognitive function), but on the other hand, they turn the economy into a quasi-human entity possessing will and internal states. Under such circumstances, complex structural economic relations give way to emotional narratives (affective function). This emotionalization can serve a persuasive function in the press, as it evokes greater empathy from the audience. For instance, the audience can more easily relate to lifeless housing market or last breaths of production than to decline in property transactions or decline in production rates.