Discourse, the primary subject of this text, is a term used in social sciences to describe formal discussions or debates on a specific topic. It encompasses the language expressions, conversations, and written texts that shape our understanding of societal structures. Discourse is deeply linked to power dynamics and plays a significant role in shaping reality. There are several theoretical frameworks that shed light on discourse, including modernism, structuralism, poststructuralism, and Foucault’s discourse theory. Different types of discourse analysis, such as critical, conversation, and Foucauldian discourse analysis, help us understand communication patterns and societal structures. The study of discourse has wide applications across various fields including sociology, environmental policy, and cultural studies, and has profound implications on gendered discourses and societal norms. Renowned scholars like James P. Gee, Robert Stalnaker, and Peter Pagin have contributed significantly to discourse analysis. Discourse research is highly relevant in social sciences and informs our understanding of language, identity, and power structures.
This article may be too technical for most readers to understand. (May 2018) |
Discurso is a generalization of the notion of a conversation to any form of communication. Discourse is a major topic in social theory, with work spanning fields such as sociology, anthropology, continental philosophye discourse analysis. Following pioneering work by Michel Foucault, these fields view discourse as a system of thought, knowledge, or communication that constructs our experience of the world. Since control of discourse amounts to control of how the world is perceived, social theory often studies discourse as a window into power. Within theoretical linguistics, discourse is understood more narrowly as linguistic information exchange and was one of the major motivations for the framework of dynamic semantics, in which expressions' denotations are equated with their ability to update a discourse context.
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