Discourse

For other uses, see Discourses (disambiguation).

established by means of inter discourse and interdiscursivity. Hence, within a eld of intellectual enquiry, the
practitioners occasionally debate What is and What is
Discourse (from Latin discursus, meaning running to
and from) denotes written and spoken communications not discourse, according to the conceptual meanings (denotation and connotation) used in the given eld of study.
such as: [1]
In semantics and discourse analysis: A generalization of the concept of conversation within all modalities and contexts.

1 The humanities

In the humanities and in the social sciences, the term discourse describes a formal way of thinking that can be ex The totality of codied language (vocabulary) used pressed through language, a social boundary that denes
in a given eld of intellectual enquiry and of social what can be said about a specic topic.
practice, such as legal discourse, medical discourse,
Discourses are seen to aect our views on all things; it is
religious discourse, et cetera.[2]
not possible to avoid discourse. For example, two notably
distinct discourses can be used about various guerrilla
In the work of Michel Foucault, and that of the so- movements describing them either as "freedom ghters"
cial theoreticians he inspired: discourse describes or "terrorists". In other words, the chosen discourse proan entity of sequences, of signs, in that they are vides the vocabulary, expressions and perhaps also the
enouncements (noncs).[3]
style needed to communicate.
Discourses are embedded in dierent rhetorical genres
and metagenres that constrain and enable them. That
is language talking about language, for instance the
American Psychiatric Association's DSMIV manual tells
which terms have to be used in talking about mental
health, thereby mediating meanings and dictating practices of the professionals of psychology and psychiatry.[5]

An enouncement (from French lnonc, meaning the

statement) is not a unit of semiotic signs, but an abstract construct that allows the signs to assign and communicate specic, repeatable relations to, between, and
among objects, subjects, and statements.[3] Hence, a
discourse is composed of semiotic sequences (relations
among signs) between and among objects, subjects, and
statements. The term discursive formation conceptually describes the regular communications (written and
spoken) that produce such discourses. As a philosopher,
Foucault applied the discursive formation in the analyses
of large bodies of knowledge, such as political economy
and natural history.[4]

Discourse is closely linked to dierent theories of power

and state, at least as long as dening discourses is seen to
mean dening reality itself. This conception of discourse
is largely derived from the work of French philosopher
Michel Foucault.

In the rst sense-usage (semantics and discourse analysis), the word discourse is studied in corpus linguistics. In
the second sense (the codied language of a eld of enquiry), and in the third sense (a statement, un nonc), the
analyses of discourse are eected in the intellectual traditions that investigate and determine the relations among
language and structure and agency, as in the elds of
sociology, feminist studies, anthropology, ethnography,
cultural studies, literary theory, and the philosophy of science. Moreover, because discourses are bodies of text
meant to communicate specic data, information, and
knowledge, there exist internal relations within a given
discourse, and external relations among discourses, because a discourse does not exist in isolation (per se), but
in relation to other discourses, which are determined and

2 Modernism
Modern theorists were focused on achieving progress
and believed in the existence of natural and social laws
which could be used universally to develop knowledge
and thus a better understanding of society.[6] Modernist
theorists were preoccupied with obtaining the truth and
reality and sought to develop theories which contained
certainty and predictability.[7] Modernist theorists therefore viewed discourse as being relative to talking or way
of talking and understood discourse to be functional.[8]
Discourse and language transformations are ascribed to
progress or the need to develop new or more accurate
words to describe new discoveries, understandings, or
1

6 NOTES

areas of interest.[8] In modern times, language and discourse are dissociated from power and ideology and instead conceptualized as natural products of common
sense usage or progress.[8] 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 dierences, according
to Regnier.[9]

Structuralism

Foucault traces the role of discourses in wider social processes of legitimating and power, emphasizing the construction of current truths, how they are maintained and
what power relations they carry with them. Foucault
later theorized that discourse is a medium through which
power relations produce speaking subjects.[8] Foucault
(1977, 1980) argued that power and knowledge are interrelated and therefore every human relationship is a struggle and negotiation of power.[14] Foucault further stated
that power is always present and can both produce and
constrain the truth.[8] Discourse according to Foucault
(1977, 1980, 2003) is related to power as it operates by
rules of exclusion. Discourse therefore is controlled by
objects, what can be spoken of; ritual, where and how one
may speak; and the privileged, who may speak.[15] Coining the phrases power-knowledge Foucault (1980) stated
knowledge was both the creator of power and creation of
power. An object becomes a node within a network. In
his work, The Archaeology of Knowledge, Foucault uses
the example of a book to illustrate a node within a network. A book is not made up of individual words on a
page, each of which has meaning, but rather is caught
up in a system of references to other books, other texts,
other sentences. The meaning of that book is connected
to a larger, overarching web of knowledge and ideas to
which it relates.

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.[10] This means that
the individual elements of a system only have significance when considered in relation to the structure as a
whole, and that structures are to be understood as selfcontained, self-regulated, and self-transforming entities.
[11]
In other words, it is the structure itself that determines
the signicance, meaning and function of the individual
elements of a system. Structuralism has made an important contribution to our understanding of language and
social systems.[12] Saussures theory of language highlights the decisive role of meaning and signication in
One of the key discourses that Foucault identied as
structuring human life more generally.[10]
part of his critique of power-knowledge was that of
neoliberalism, which he related very closely to his conceptualization of governmentality in his lectures on
4 Postmodernism
biopolitics.[16] This trajectory of Foucaults thinking has
been taken up widely within Human Geography.
Following the perceived limitations of the modern era,
emerged postmodern theory.[6] Postmodern theorists rejected modernist claims that there was one theoretical
approach that explained all aspects of society.[7] Rather,
postmodernist theorists were interested in examining the
variety of experience of individuals and groups and
emphasized dierences over similarities and common
experiences.[8]
In contrast to modern theory, postmodern theory is more
uid and allows for individual dierences as it rejected
the notion of social laws. Postmodern theorists shifted
away from truth seeking and instead sought answers for
how truths are produced and sustained. Postmodernists
contended that truth and knowledge is plural, contextual, and historically produced through discourses. Postmodern researchers therefore embarked on analyzing discourses such as texts, language, policies and practices.[8]
French social theorist Michel Foucault developed a notion
of discourse in his early work, especially the Archaeology
of knowledge (1972). In Discursive Struggles Within Social Welfare: Restaging Teen Motherhood,[13] Iara Lessa
summarizes Foucaults denition 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.

5 See also
Critical discourse analysis
Discipline and Punish
Discourse Community
Episteme
Interdiscursivity
Parrhesia
Political discourse analysis
Postcolonial literature
The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity - A 1985
essay by Jrgen Habermas, regarded as an important
contribution to Frankfurt School critical theory.

6 Notes
[1] Compact Oxford Dictionary, Thesaurus and Wordpower
Guide(2001). Oxford University Press, New York.

[2] . revue-texto.net. June 2001. |rst1= missing |last1= in

Authors list (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)
[3] M. Foucault (1969). L'Archologie du savoir. Paris: ditions Gallimard.
[4] M. Foucault (1970). The Order of Things. Pantheon.
ISBN 0-415-26737-4.
[5] Catherine F. Schryer and Philippa Spoel. Genre Theory,
Health-Care Discourse, and Professional Identity Formation. Journal of Business and Technical Communication 2005; 19; 249 http://jbt.sagepub.com/cgi/content/
abstract/19/3/249
[6] J. Larrain (1994). Ideology and cultural identity: Modernity and the third world presence. Cambridge: Polity
Press.
[7] Steven Best & Douglas Kellner (1997). The postmodern
turn. The Guilford Press. ISBN 1-57230-221-6.
[8] Strega, 2005
[9] Regnier, 2005
[10] D. Howarth (2000). Discourse. Philadelphia, Pa.: Open
University Press. ISBN 0-335-20070-2.
[11] D. Howarth (2000). Discourse. Philadelphia, Pa.: Open
University Press. p. 17. ISBN 0-335-20070-2.
[12] Sommers, Aaron. Discourse and Dierence University of
New Hampshire Cosmology Seminar
[13] I. Lessa (2006). Discursive struggles within social welfare: Restaging teen motherhood. British Journal of Social Work 36 (2): 283298. doi:10.1093/bjsw/bch256.
[14] Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings, 1972-1977. M Foucault. Selected interviews and
other writings 1972,1977, 1980 - Pantheon
[15] M. Foucault (1972). Archaeology of knowledge. New
York: Pantheon. ISBN 0-415-28752-9.
[16] Foucault, M. (2008) The Birth Of Biopolitics: Lectures at
the Collge de France, 1978-1979. New York: Palgrave
MacMillan.

References
M. Foucault (1977). Discipline and Punish. New
York: Pantheon. ISBN 0-394-49942-5.
M. Foucault (1980). Two Lectures, in Colin Gordon, ed., Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews.
New York: Pantheon.
M. Foucault (2003). Society Must Be Defended.
New York: Picador. ISBN 0-312-42266-0.
A. McHoul & W. Grace (1993). A Foucault primer:
Discourse, power, and the subject. Melbourne:
Melbourne University Press. ISBN 0-8147-5480-5.

J. Motion & S. Leitch (2007).

A toolbox
for public relations: The oeuvre of Michel Foucault. Public Relations Review 33 (3): 263268.
doi:10.1016/j.pubrev.2007.05.004.
R. Mullaly (1997). Structural social work: Ideology,
theory, and practice (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford
University Press. ISBN 0-7710-6673-2.
B. Norton (1997). Language, identity, and the
ownership of English. TESOL Quarterly (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc.
(TESOL)) 31 (3): 409429. doi:10.2307/3587831.
JSTOR 3587831.
Research as resistance: Critical, indigenous and
anti-oppressive approaches.(2005). In Brown L. A.,
Strega S. (Eds.), Toronto: Canadian Scholars Press.
S. Strega (2005). The view from the poststructural
margins: Epistemology and methodology reconsidered. In L. Brown, & S. Strega (Eds.), Research
as resistance (pp. 199235). Toronto: Canadian
Scholars Press.
J. Sunderland (2004). Gendered discourses. New
York: PalgraveMacmillan.

8 External links
Interdisciplinary research portal discourse analysis.
Register and get the news in discourse analysis.
Beyond Open Access: Open Discourse, the next
great equalizer, Retrovirology 2006, 3:55

9 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

9.1

Text

Discourse Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discourse?oldid=637270091 Contributors: MarXidad, Fnielsen, Vaganyik, Karen Johnson, Edward, Michael Hardy, Gabbe, Blacklite, TakuyaMurata, , Glenn, Raven in Orbit, Pedant17, Furrykef, Dduck, Merovingian, Sunray, Adam78, Enochlau, Tsca, Quadell, Ot, Rdsmith4, Tothebarricades.tk, ClockworkTroll, Vsmith, Kzzl, Rubicon, Chalst,
Greenleaf, SpeedyGonsales, Ranveig, Jnothman, Ish ishwar, Jheald, RainbowOfLight, VoluntarySlave, Facopad, Tainter, Mhazard9, The
JPS, Woohookitty, LOL, MGTom, Tabletop, Analogisub, Zzyzx11, BD2412, JIP, Miq, Rjwilmsi, Yamamoto Ichiro, FlaBot, Pavlo Shevelo,
Ffaarr, Jrtayloriv, Dzzl, RussBot, Rintrah, CambridgeBayWeather, Cleared as led, Maunus, Pawyilee, JoanneB, Vicarious, Akrabbim,
SmackBot, Peloneous, Gilliam, Chris the speller, Bluebot, Ksenon, Janks, King Vegita, Byelf2007, Lapaz, Notwist, Sharnak, Wolfdog,
Amalas, The Missing Piece, R.W. Wesley, Penbat, Cachondeo45, Sopoforic, Synergy, Garik, Thijs!bot, James086, Tommy.rousse, TeunAvanDijk, Thomas Basboll, JAnDbot, Bongwarrior, VoABot II, Afaprof01, Bobanny, Charitwo, MartinBot, Bjerke, Openaccess, J.delanoy,
Maurice Carbonaro, McSly, Girl2k, STBotD, DorganBot, Sojmed, Jean Redmass, TXiKiBoT, Lynxmb, Tomsega, JhsBot, None the Wiser,
BotKung, Meters, Qworty, Grosbach, Stumey, ScAvenger lv, Ascidian, Slaporte, ClueBot, ChandlerMapBot, APanneric, DragonBot,
Jdrice8, Dcd139, Rhododendrites, Chippy87, Relly Komaruzaman, Piratejosh85, Addbot, DOI bot, Mabdul, OlEnglish, Qwertyytrewqqwerty, Yobot, Rubinbot, Unara, Materialscientist, Citation bot, Capricorn42, Jmundo, Armbrust, Nagualdesign, FrescoBot, Sisyphustkd,
Wikipe-tan, Citation bot 1, Meaghan, Trappist the monk, Jimsteele9999, Reach Out to the Truth, SuperMoe02, Faraji2001, Fappah, Gracecleary, TheSoundAndTheFury, ZroBot, H3llBot, EricWesBrown, Margarita Chacon, Ptoranth, ClueBot NG, Satellizer, JV400Hendra,
Helpful Pixie Bot, Cirera, Wiki13, Meclee, JYBot, Lugia2453, SFK2, Graphium, TracedInAir, ArmbrustBot, TheFXexpert, Monkbot and
Anonymous: 156

9.2

Images

File:Edit-clear.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f2/Edit-clear.svg License: Public domain Contributors: The

Tango! Desktop Project. Original artist:
The people from the Tango! project. And according to the meta-data in the le, specically: Andreas Nilsson, and Jakub Steiner (although
minimally).
File:Socrates.png Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/Socrates.png License: Public domain Contributors:
Originally from en.wikipedia; description page is/was here. Original artist: Original uploader was Magnus Manske at en.wikipedia Later
versions were uploaded by Optimager at en.wikipedia.
File:Wikiquote-logo.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/Wikiquote-logo.svg License: Public domain
Contributors: ? Original artist: ?

9.3

Content license

Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0