Discursive Approaches

[Page 461]Discursive approaches are any means of studying ideas, beliefs, events, and other variables by examining how particular entities are constructed through written and spoken human communications. The term discourse is most frequently used to denote any written or spoken text, such as conversations, advertisements, books, scientific publications, speeches, letters, courtroom proceedings, texts, and e-mails. However, some discourse analysts, such as Ian Parker and Vivien Burr, use discourse to refer to systems of meanings and statements that together produce a specific version of events. French philosopher Michel Foucault defined “discourse” as a group of statements functioning to construct knowledge in a way that reflects existing power relationships. Varying perspectives on discourse will often correspond to particular types of discursive analyses, yet still share the same ...