Discourse Analysis

Background

In the past several years social and applied or professional sciences in academia have seen a tremendous increase in the number of discourse analysis studies. The history of discourse analysis is long and embedded in the origins of a philosophical tradition of hermeneutics and phenomenology. These traditions emphasize the issue of Verstehen, or lifeworld, and the social interaction within the lifeworld. A few major theorists in this tradition are Martin Heidegger, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Edmund Husserl, Wil-helm Dilthey, and Alfred Schutz. Early applications of discourse analysis in social and applied [Page 368]and professional sciences can be found in psychology, sociology, cultural studies, and linguistics. The tradition of discourse analysis is often listed under interpretive qualitative methods and is categorized by Thomas A. Schwandt with hermeneutics and social construction under the constructivist paradigm. Jaber F. Gubrium and James A. Holstein place phenomenology in the same vein as naturalistic inquiry and ethnomethodology. The strong influence of the German and French philosophical traditions in psychology, sociology, and linguistics has made this a common method in the social and applied and professional sciences. Paradigmatically, discourse analysis assumes that there are multiple constructed realities and that the goal of researchers working within this perspective is to understand the interplay between language and social context. Discourse analysis is hermeneutic and phenomenological in nature, emphasizing the lifeworld and meaning making through the use of language. This method typically involves an analytical process of deconstructing and critiquing language use and the social context of language usage.

Two Major Approaches

Discourse analysis can be divided into two major approaches: language-in-use (or socially situated text and talk) and sociopolitical. The language-in-use approach is concerned with the micro dimensions of language, grammatical structures, and how these features interplay within a social context. Language-in-use discourse analysis focuses on the rules and conventions of talk and text within a certain a context. This approach emphasizes various aspects of language within social context. Language-in-use methodologists focus on language and the interplay between language and social context. Language-in-use is often found in the disciplines of linguistics and literature studies and is rarely used in social and human sciences.

The second major approach, sociopolitical, is the focus of the rest of this entry because it is most commonly used within the social and human sciences. This approach is concerned with how language forms and influences the social context. Sociopolitical discourse analysis focuses on the social construction of discursive practices that maintain the social context. This approach emphasizes social context as influenced by language. Sociopolitical methodologists focus on social context and the interplay between social context and language. This approach is most often found in the social and professional and applied sciences, where researchers using sociopolitical discourse analysis often employ one of two specific frameworks: Foucualdian discourse analysis and critical discourse analysis (CDA).

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