Theory and Method

Justin Gibbins

Document Type

Book Chapter

Source of Publication

Britain, Europe and National Identity

Publication Date

1-1-2014

Abstract

Discourse analysis can be defined as an “approach to the analysis of language that looks at patterns of language across texts as well as the social and cultural contexts in which the texts occur” (Paltridge, 2006, p. 2). These patterns of language mean that discourse is firmly lodged within a view of our world as socially constructed. Discourse analysis, therefore, seeks to argue that an external reality cannot be held as authoritative and universal but is instead a series of representations. The representations have been abundant over the ages with such examples including among others “God, Reason, Humanity, Nature, and the Iron Laws of Capitalism” (Torfing, 2005, p. 13). These categorisations enable our understanding of our ‘reality’, which is contingent on social, cultural and historical contexts.

Publisher

Palgrave Macmillan UK

First Page

9

Last Page

34

Disciplines

Social and Behavioral Sciences

Indexed in Scopus

no

Open Access

no

Link to Full Text

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