Discourse

Discourse is a generalization of the notion of a conversation to any form of communication.[1] Discourse

is a major topic in social theory, with work spanning fields such as sociology, anthropology, continental
philosophy, and discourse analysis. Following work by Michel Foucault, these fields view discourse as a
system of thought, knowledge, or communication that constructs our world experience. Since control of
discourse amounts to control of how the world is perceived, social theory often studies discourse as a
window into power. Within theoretical linguistics, discourse is understood more narrowly as linguistic
information exchange and was one of the major motivations for the framework of dynamic semantics. In
these expressions, denotations are equated with their ability to update a discourse context.

Social theory
In the humanities and social sciences, discourse describes a formal way of thinking that can be expressed
through language. Discourse is a social boundary that defines what statements can be said about a topic.
Many definitions of discourse are primarily derived from the work of French philosopher Michel
Foucault. In sociology, discourse is defined as "any practice (found in a wide range of forms) by which
individuals imbue reality with meaning".[2]

Political science sees discourse as closely linked to politics[3][4] and policy making.[5] Likewise, different
theories among various disciplines understand discourse as linked to power and state, insofar as the
control of discourses is understood as a hold on reality itself (e.g. if a state controls the media, they
control the "truth"). In essence, discourse is inescapable, since any use of language will have an effect on
individual perspectives. In other words, the chosen discourse provides the vocabulary, expressions, or
style needed to communicate. For example, two notably distinct discourses can be used about various
guerrilla movements, describing them either as "freedom fighters" or "terrorists".

In psychology, discourses are embedded in different rhetorical genres and meta-genres that constrain and
enable them—language talking about language. This is exemplified in the APA's Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, which tells of the terms that have to be used in speaking about
mental health, thereby mediating meanings and dictating practices of professionals in psychology and
psychiatry.[6]

Modernism
Modernist theorists focused on achieving progress and believed in natural and social laws that could be
used universally to develop knowledge and, thus, a better understanding of society.[7] Such theorists
would be preoccupied with obtaining the "truth" and "reality", seeking to develop theories which
contained certainty and predictability.[8] Modernist theorists therefore understood discourse to be
functional.[9] Discourse and language transformations are ascribed to progress or the need to develop new
or more "accurate" words to describe discoveries, understandings, or areas of interest.[9] In modernist
theory, language and discourse are dissociated from power and ideology and instead conceptualized as
"natural" products of common sense usage or progress.[9] Modernism further gave rise to the liberal
discourses of rights, equality, freedom, and justice; however, this rhetoric masked substantive inequality
and failed to account for differences, according to Regnier.[10]

Structuralism (Saussure and Lacan)

Structuralist theorists, such as Ferdinand de Saussure and Jacques Lacan, argue that all human actions
and social formations are related to language and can be understood as systems of related elements.[11]
This means that the "individual elements of a system only have significance when considered about the
structure as a whole, and that structures are to be understood as self-contained, self-regulated, and self-
transforming entities".[11]: 17 In other words, it is the structure itself that determines the significance,
meaning, and function of the individual elements of a system. Structuralism has contributed to our
understanding of language and social systems.[12] Saussure's theory of language highlights the decisive
role of meaning and signification in structuring human life more generally.[11]

Poststructuralism (Foucault)
Following the perceived limitations of the modern era, emerged postmodern theory.[7] Postmodern
theorists rejected modernist claims that there was one theoretical approach that explained all aspects of
society.[8] Rather, postmodernist theorists were interested in examining the variety of experiences of
individuals and groups and emphasized differences over similarities and shared experiences.[9]

In contrast to modernist theory, postmodern theory is pessimistic regarding universal truths and realities.
Hence, it has attempted to be fluid, allowing for individual differences as it rejects the notion of social
laws. Postmodern theorists shifted away from truth-seeking and sought answers to how truths are
produced and sustained. Postmodernists contended that truth and knowledge are plural, contextual, and
historically produced through discourses. Postmodern researchers, therefore, embarked on analyzing
discourses such as texts, language, policies, and practices.[9]

Foucault
In the works of the philosopher Michel Foucault, a discourse is "an entity of sequences, of signs, in that
they are enouncements (énoncés)."[13] The enouncement (l’énoncé, "the statement") is a linguistic
construct that allows the writer and the speaker to assign meaning to words and to communicate
repeatable semantic relations to, between, and among the statements, objects, or subjects of the
discourse.[13] Internal ties exist between the signs (semiotic sequences). The term discursive formation
identifies and describes written and spoken statements with semantic relations that produce discourses. As
a researcher, Foucault applied the discursive formation to analyses of large bodies of knowledge, e.g.
political economy and natural history.[14]

In The Archaeology of Knowledge (1969), a treatise about the methodology and historiography of systems
of thought ("epistemes") and knowledge ("discursive formations"), Michel Foucault developed the
concepts of discourse. The sociologist Iara Lessa summarizes Foucault's definition of discourse as
"systems of thoughts composed of ideas, attitudes, courses of action, beliefs, and practices that
systematically construct the subjects and the worlds of which they speak."[15] Foucault traces the role of
discourse in the legitimation of society's power to construct contemporary truths, to maintain said truths,
and to determine what relations of power exist among the constructed truths; therefore discourse is a
communications medium through which power relations produce men and women who can speak.[9]

The interrelation between power and knowledge renders every human relationship into a power
negotiation,[16] because power is always present and so produces and constrains the truth.[9] Power is
exercised through rules of exclusion (discourses) that determine what subjects people can discuss; when,
where, and how a person may speak; and determines which persons are allowed to speak.[13] That
knowledge is both the creator of power and the creation of power; Foucault coined "power/knowledge" to
show that it is "an abstract force which determines what will be known, rather than assuming that
individual thinkers develop ideas and knowledge."[17][18]

Interdiscourse studies the external semantic relations among discourses,[19] as discourses exist in relation
to other discourses.[14]

Discourse analysis
There is more than one type of discourse analysis, and the definition of "discourse" shifts slightly
between types. Generally speaking, discourse analyses can be divided into those concerned with "little d"
discourse and "big D" Discourse. The former ("little d") refers to language-in-use, such as spoken
communication; the latter ("big D") refers to sociopolitical discourses (language plus social and cultural
contexts).[20]

Common forms of discourse analysis include:

Critical discourse analysis

Foucauldian discourse analysis
Conversation analysis
Genre analysis
Narrative analysis

Formal semantics and pragmatics

In formal semantics and pragmatics, discourse is often viewed as the process of refining the information
in a common ground. In some theories of semantics, such as discourse representation theory, sentences'
denotations themselves are equated with functions that update a common ground.[21][22][23][24]

See also

Philosophy portal

power/knowledge
Common ground
Conversational scoreboard
Deconstruction
 Difference (philosophy)
Discipline and Punish
Discourse community
Discursive dominance
Discourse Studies
Dispositif
Dynamic semantics
Episteme
Parrhesia
Post-structuralism
Pragmatics
The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity, a 1985 book by Jürgen Habermas, regarded as
an important contribution to Frankfurt School critical theory
Public speaking
Rhetoric

References
1. The noun derives from a Latin verb meaning "running to and fro". For a concise historical
account of the term and the concept, see Dorschel, Andreas. 2021. "Diskurs." Pp. 110–114
in Zeitschrift für Ideengeschichte XV/4: Falschmünzer, edited by M. Mulsow, & A.U.
Sommer. Munich: C.H. Beck.
2. Ruiz, Jorge R. (2009-05-30). "Sociological discourse analysis: Methods and logic" ([Link]
[Link]/[Link]/fqs/article/view/1298/2882). Forum: Qualitative Social
Research. 10 (2) 26. Archived ([Link]
[Link]/[Link]/fqs/article/view/1298/2882) from the original on Dec 10,
2022.
3. van Dijk, Teun A. "Politics, Ideology, and Discourse" ([Link]
094109/[Link]
df) (PDF). Archived from the original ([Link]
logy%20and%[Link]) (PDF) on 2019-01-27. Retrieved 2019-01-27.
4. van Dijk, Teun A. "What is Political Discourse Analysis?" ([Link]
331132441/[Link]
[Link]) (PDF). Archived from the original ([Link]
Political%20Discourse%[Link]) (PDF) on Mar 31, 2020. Retrieved 2020-03-21.
5. Feindt, Peter H.; Oels, Angela (2005). "Does discourse matter? Discourse analysis in
environmental policymaking" ([Link]
index/docId/94625). Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning. 7 (3): 161–173.
doi:10.1080/15239080500339638 ([Link]
S2CID 143314592 ([Link]
6. Schryer, Catherine F., and Philippa Spoel. 2005. "Genre theory, health-care discourse, and
professional identity formation." Journal of Business and Technical Communication 19: 249.
Retrieved from SAGE ([Link]
7. Larrain, Jorge. 1994. Ideology and Cultural Identity: Modernity and the Third World
Presence. Cambridge: Polity Press. ISBN 9780745613154. Retrieved via Google Books (htt
ps://[Link]/books?id=p3C1tAEACAAJ).
8. Best, Steven; Kellner, Douglas (1997). The Postmodern Turn. New York City: The Guilford
Press. ISBN 978-1-57230-221-1.
 9. Strega, Susan. 2005. "The View from the Poststructural Margins: Epistemology and
Methodology Reconsidered." Pp. 199–235 in Research as Resistance, edited by L. Brown,
& S. Strega. Toronto: Canadian Scholars' Press.
10. Regnier, 2005
11. Howarth, D. (2000). Discourse. Philadelphia: Open University Press. ISBN 978-0-335-
20070-2.
12. Sommers, Aaron. 2002. "Discourse and Difference ([Link]
Summaries_2002/summary3_2002.html)." Cosmology and our View of the World, University
of New Hampshire. Seminar summary.
13. M. Foucault (1969). L'Archéologie du savoir. Paris: Éditions Gallimard.
14. M. Foucault (1970). The Order of Things. Pantheon Books. ISBN 0-415-26737-4.
15. Lessa, Iara (February 2006). "Discursive Struggles within Social Welfare: Restaging Teen
Motherhood". The British Journal of Social Work. 36 (2): 283–298. doi:10.1093/bjsw/bch256
([Link]
16. Foucault, Michel. Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings, 1972–1977
(1980) New York City: Pantheon Books.
17. Sellars, Maura (2020). "Chapter Two: Power: Discourses of Power" ([Link]
ble/j.ctv12sdz0r.7). Educating Students with Refugee and Asylum Seeker Experiences: A
Commitment to Humanity. p. 23. doi:10.2307/j.ctv12sdz0r.7 ([Link]
12sdz0r.7). JSTOR j.ctv12sdz0r.7 ([Link]
18. Kłos-Czerwińska, Paulina (2015). Discourse: an introduction to van Dijk, Foucault and
Bourdieu ([Link]
(PDF). Languages in Contact. Wrocław : Washington: Wydawnictwo Wyższej Szkoły
Filologicznej : Komisja Nauk Filologicznych PAN. Oddział; International Communicology
Institute. p. 166. ISBN 978-83-60097-37-3.
19. Keller, Reiner (2013). Doing Discourse Research: An Introduction for Social Scientists (http
s://[Link]/book/doing-discourse-research). SAGE Publications Ltd.
doi:10.4135/9781473957640 ([Link] ISBN 978-1-
4739-5764-0.
20. Gee, James P. (2005). An Introduction to Discourse Analysis: Theory and Method ([Link]
[Link]/2014/04/an-introduction-to-discourse-analysis-by-j
[Link]) (PDF) (2nd ed.). Taylor & Francis. pp. 7, 26. Archived ([Link]
[Link]/web/20240323232751/[Link]
[Link]) (PDF) from the original on March
23, 2024. Retrieved March 23, 2024 – via Fernandes Arung.
21. Green, Mitchell (2020). "Speech Acts" ([Link]
peech-acts/). In Zalta, Edward (ed.). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved
2021-03-05.
22. Pagin, Peter (2016). "Assertion" ([Link]
n/). In Zalta, Edward (ed.). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved 2021-03-05.
23. Nowen, Rick; Brasoveanu, Adrian; van Eijck, Jan; Visser, Albert (2016). "Dynamic
Semantics" ([Link] In
Zalta, Edward (ed.). The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved 2020-08-11.
24. Stalnaker, Robert (1978). "Assertion". In Cole, P (ed.). Syntax and Semantics, Vol. IX:
Pragmatics. Academic Press.

Further reading
Foucault, Michel (1972) [1969]. Archaeology of Knowledge. New York: Pantheon Books.
ISBN 978-0-415-28752-4.
 — (1977). Discipline and Punish. New York: Pantheon Books. ISBN 978-0-394-49942-0.
— (1980). "Two Lectures", in Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews, edited by C. Gordon.
New York; Pantheon Books.
— (2003). Society Must Be Defended. New York: Picador. ISBN 978-0-312-42266-0.
McHoul, Alec; Grace, Wendy (1993). A Foucault Primer: Discourse, Power, and the Subject.
Melbourne: Melbourne University Press. ISBN 978-0-8147-5480-1.
Motion, J.; Leitch, S. (2007). "A Toolbox for Public Relations: The Oeuvre of Michel
Foucault" ([Link] Public Relations Review. 33 (3): 263–
268. doi:10.1016/[Link].2007.05.004 ([Link]
hdl:1959.3/76588 ([Link]
R. Mullaly, Robert (1997). Structural Social Work: Ideology, Theory, and Practice (2nd ed.).
New York City: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-7710-6673-3.
Howard, Harry. (2017). "Discourse 2 ([Link]
Brain and Language, Tulane University. [PowerPoint slides].
Norton, Bonny (1997). "Language, identity, and the ownership of English". TESOL Quarterly.
31 (3): 409–429. doi:10.2307/3587831 ([Link]
JSTOR 3587831 ([Link]
Sunderland, J. (2004). Gendered Discourses. New York City: Palgrave Macmillan.

External links
DiscourseNet ([Link] an international association for discourse
studies.
Beyond open access: open discourse, the next great equalizer ([Link]
[Link]/articles/10.1186/1742-4690-3-55), Retrovirology 2006, 3:55
Discourse (Lun) in the Chinese tradition ([Link]
p?searchterm=030_lun.inc&issue=030)

Retrieved from "[Link]