Discourse

Key Quotes:

"Discourse is basically understood as the result of collusion: the conditions of the political, social and linguistic practice impose themselves practically 'behind the back of the subjects', while the actors do not understand 'the game'" (Wodak & Meyer 17).

"A discourse can be defined as 'an institutionalized way of talking that regulates and reinforces action and thereby exerts power,'"(Link in Jäger & Maier 35).

"Discourses are not only mere expressions of social practice, but also serve particular ends, namely the exercise of power" (Jäger & Maier 35).

"Discourse is a multidimensional social phenomenon" (Van Dijk 67). [linguistic object, action, a form of social interaction, a social practice, a mental representation, an interactional/communicative event/activity, a cultural product, economic commodity]

Discourses are fluid and dynamic across time and space, situated social practices linked to rhetorical argumentation, socially constituted & constitutive, a way of (de-)legitimizing power, and an analytic tool for mental representations. (Reisigl & Wodak 89)

"Discourse is taken to refer to authentic texts used in multi-layered environments to perform social functions" (Mautner 123-124).

Theo van Leewen defines discourses as "socially constructed ways of knowing some aspect of reality" and "context-specific frameworks for making sense of things"  as well as "recontextualizations of social practices" (144, 148).

"Discourses are semiotic ways of construing aspects of the world (physical, social or mental) which can generally be identified with different positions or perspectives of different groups of social actors" (Fairclough 164).

Overall Synthesis:

Discourse is situated and recontextualized social practice, where agents construe socially recursive meaning on some aspect of reality.  Discourse(s) shape our sense of reality, is/are multiple, involve deploying semiotic resources (including, but not limited to, language) in context as well as dispersed agency, and are authorized by and result in unequal power structures.  Given these social structures and different social positions, power and ideologies are by nature implicated in these semiotic and material practices.  In addition, discourses are multiple and dialogic in nature with discourse boundaries that are fluid and dynamic across time and space.  The multiplicity of discourses reveals different perspectives and orientations toward aspects of reality, and discourses themselves are composed of actions and reactions.  It is possible to follow discourse strands within and across social contexts where they have been entangled with other discourse strands.  Context will determine which discourse is primary and secondary where they have been combined.  The relationship between discourse and the social is indirect, however, and has to be mediated by mental models.  Discourse is therefore an analytic tool for understanding mental models, and texts provide evidence of discourse.