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Discourse analysis

Article · June 2009

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Wiggins, S. (2009) Discourse analysis. In: Encyclopedia of Human Relationships. Sage

Publications, California, USA, pp. 427-430. ISBN 9781412958462
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Wiggins, S. (2009). Discourse analysis. In Harry T. Reis & Susan Sprecher (Eds.),
Encyclopedia of Human Relationships. Pp. 427-430. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Discourse analysis

Discourse analysis is an umbrella term for a range of methodological approaches that

analyse the use and functions of talk and text within social interaction. These approaches

are used across social science disciplines such as psychology, sociology, linguistics,

anthropology and communication studies. Discourse analysis is interdisciplinary in nature,

developed from work within speech act theory, ethnomethodology and semiology as well as

post-structuralist theorists such as Michel Foucault and Jacques Derrida, and the later works

of philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. Discourse analysis approaches are crucial for

understanding human relationships because they focus primarily on interaction: how we

talk to each other and the discursive practices (talking, writing) through which relationships

develop, fall apart and so on. This entry covers central features of discourse analysis,

methodological issues and some of the most commonly used versions of discourse analysis.

Common features of discourse analytical approaches

Discourse analysis approaches combine a set of theoretical assumptions about what

discourse is and how it is used, with a rigorous methodology that determines what kind of

data is appropriate and how this should be analysed. The distinctions between different

versions of discourse analysis has led to many heated debates within the field, particularly

where researchers are working within a specific discipline (such as psychology).

There are, however, underlying commonalities across discourse analysis

approaches. First, most theorists agree that discourse – all forms of talk and text (and for

some researchers, this includes bodily movements or eye gaze within social interaction) – is

central to everyday life, and thus, to human relationships. The term ‘discourse’ is

commonly used to highlight the focus on language use rather than grammatical or linguistic

features.
 The second area of commonality is the assumption that discourse is social action;

that social practices are performed in and through discourse. This is seen in three ways.

First, discourse is treated as constructing or constituting the world. That is, discourse does

not merely reflect reality, rather, it constructs reality in particular ways. When we

‘describe’ the world, we are thus building up a certain picture of the world (or person, for

instance) that is open to challenge, collusion or negotiation. This is a crucial departure

from many linguistic and communication theories, which argue that language is a passive

medium (or ‘conduit’, or pipeline) through which ideas, thoughts and so on are accessed.

Second, social action is also produced through there being many versions of the

world that can be constructed in discourse. That is, if we assume discourse constructs

reality, then it follows that different discourses construct reality in different ways. For

example, newspapers may report on the same event but the story is different each time.

There is thus variablity in talk and text, as discourse is produced in different contexts and

for different functions; hence, as the function/context changes, so does the discourse.

Discourse analysts argue, to a greater or lesser extent, that each version is as ‘true’ as any

other; that we cannot objectively claim to know the ‘real’ version of events. ‘Reality’ may

thus be regarded as a series of multiple ‘realities’ each of which are brought to life through

various discursive practices. It is within this area that there is much cause for dispute

among discourse analysts, as some argue that to make a relativist claim (that there is not

‘one’ truth, but many ‘truths’) means that you cannot then state which version of the truth is

the ‘right’ or ‘correct’ one. Those who take a more realist line (that there is an underlying

truth ‘behind’ discourse), however, claim to be able to take a political stance (a point of

view or perspective) on an issue.

The final way in which social action is produced is through the co-production of

meaning within discourse. As discourse constructs reality/ies, the location of meaning-

making is treated not as an individual product (e.g. of how someone thinks) but as the
product of social interaction. A helpful analogy here is to imagine the visual illusion which

flips between being two heads (sideways on, facing each other) and being a vase. Meaning,

it is argued, is created in the space between people (the ‘vase’) rather than within the people

(heads) themselves. What we ‘mean’ by a statement is thus not a matter of what we

thought about when we said it, but how the words are interpreted and responded to by

others. For example, whether or not your partner claims to ‘love’ you is not about their

intentions or feelings, but about how they say it, and how this statement functions in the

interaction. This means that discourse must be understood within an historical, social and

cultural context. Again, there are differences of opinion as to how ‘context’ should be

defined: as only the words that people say (and how they say them), whether issues such as

age, gender and ethnicity should be defined, as well as broader historical or cultural

contexts.

Using discourse analysis as a method

The social constructionist basis of most forms of discourse analysis means that it cannot

simply be used as an interchangeable method within research (as if it were another tool in

the ‘toolbox of methods’). This is because, as noted above, it requires the researcher to buy

into certain theoretical assumptions: that discourse constructs reality and that context is

fundamental to understanding discourse in any human relationship. That aside, the steps

for acquiring and using discourse analysis are broadly similar, though they are by no means

a straight-forward ‘recipe’ in terms of analysis.

Discourse analysis research involves the audio or video recording of social

interaction (e.g. telephone conversations or family mealtimes), or the collecting together of

textual documents (e.g. personal diaries or health promotion literature). A large corpus of

data is accumulated on a particular topic. Data collection is guided by a research question/s

in a topic area. For instance, an interest in the negotiation of household tasks within a

relationship might lead to the collection of either interviews with couples or families who
live together, or the video recording of the family as they discuss tasks over the dinner

table. If audio or video data are used, a written transcript (i.e. a word processed copy of the

talk) is produced to be analysed alongside the audio/video files, and which is used to report

findings in publications.

The data corpus is then coded by searching for recurring patterns, themes or

instances of a particular phenomena. This process is guided by past research and the

research question. The transcript will be read many times in order to get a ‘feel’ for the

data, and to ensure that the initial stages of coding are as inclusive as possible. Continuing

the example above, this might mean selecting those areas of talk where people seem to be

in conflict or disagreement over duties. Analysis of the data then requires an in-depth

examination of ‘discursive devices’ such as use of pronouns, categories or rhetorical

features (where alternative versions of ‘reality’ are directly or indirectly argued against).

Styles of analysis vary greatly depending on which version of discourse analysis is being

used, from looking closely at the way in which people take turns in talk and how the

sequential organisation of interaction helps to construct the meaning of talk (discursive

psychology) to considering the use of concepts such as synchonicity (the smooth co-

ordination of people’s talk) and shared ways of speaking (sociolinguistics and ethnographic

approaches).

The resultant discourse analysis is often in the form of a set of themes and

illustrative points that relate back to the research question. Extracts from the transcribed

data are used to evidence the analytical points, enabling the reader to view the data directly

and to decide for themselves about the veracity of the claims being made. As such,

discourse analysis approaches are purely qualitative in method, but they are also extremely

applied, in that findings can be used to relate back directly to the setting in which the data

was collected (or similar settings).

Versions of discourse analysis

The divergent roots of discourse analysis have led to many different varieties. Here, three

strands are outlined, along with more subtle variations within each, as these are most

relevant for the study of human relationships.

Discursive psychology refers to a strand of discourse analysis that has emerged from the

work of Derek Edwards and Jonathan Potter in the 1990’s, and develops Jonathan Potter

and Margaret Wetherell’s seminal work on discourse analysis in social psychology in 1987.

This version examines how psychological concepts (such as emotions, attitudes and beliefs)

are constructed and understood in everyday interaction. This work is particularly suited to

human relationships, and has been used to examine, for example, marriage and family

counselling sessions and family mealtime interaction. A slight variation on this approach is

the discursive psychology developed by Rom Harré, which places more emphasis on

cognitive processes (i.e. what people are thinking or mentally processing) and their role

within talk. Edwards and Potters’ version of discursive psychology is more agnostic about

cognition. A third area within this ‘branch’ of discourse analysis is that known as critical

discursive psychology, which focuses on similar psychological notions but uses a broader

notion of context, taking into account cultural and historical frameworks as well as the

discourse itself. For instance, research by John Dixon and Margaret Wetherell examines

issues of social justice and gender within talk about household labour.

A second major branch of discourse analysis is known as critical discourse analysis, which

is based upon broadly Marxist principles: that some groups in society have more power

than others, and that oppression is mediated through discourse. Key theorists in this area

are Norman Fairclough and Teun Van Dijk, and research has been carried out on topics

where there is some level of inequality or abuses of power. It is this notion of power, and

being ‘critical’ (within discourse analysis, this is broadly used to refer to approaches which
take a more realist perspective, and thus can stake a claim about what version of the ‘truth’

is more appropriate or acceptable than another) that is central to this version of discourse

analysis. For instance, these approaches often focus on discourses around racism, sexism

or other perceived inequalities in society. There are strong similarities with Foucauldian

discourse analysis, which is routed in the work of philosopher Michel Foucault, and which

treats power as a more fluid concept. Here, power can be positive as well as negative, and

it is closely connected with knowledge and discourse. Power is not something ‘owned’ by

groups through virtue of their ways of talking; it is flexible and can be used by individuals

through use of different discourses and ways of representing others.

The third main strand of discourse analysis is characterised by approaches such as

interactional sociolinguistics and the ethnography of speaking. These approaches take a

broader perspective on context and are interested in areas such as interethnic

communication, communicative styles (fixed ways of talking that are often associated with

groups or communities of people) and the notion of speech genres, where talk is

characterised by particular features and functions as a consequence of being associated with

a particular area of communication (e.g. conversations between parents and children over

mealtimes).

Sally Wiggins, University of Strathclyde

See also: Communication processes, verbal; Communication, norms and rules; Interaction

analysis; Langauge uses in relationships; Qualitative methods in relationship research.

Further readings:

Dixon, J. and Wetherell, M. (2004) On discourse and dirty nappies: Gender, the division of

household labour and the social psychology of distributive justice. Theory &

Psychology, Vol. 14 (2): 167-189.

 Fitch, K.L. and Sanders, R.E. (2005)(Eds.) Handbook of language and social interaction.

Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Hepburn, A. and Wiggins, S. (2007)(Eds.) Discourse research in practice: New approaches

to psychology and interaction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Jaworski, A. and Coupland, N. (1999)(Eds.) The discourse reader. London: Routledge.

Potter, J. and Wetherell, M. (1987) Discourse and social psychology: Beyond attitudes and

behaviour. London: Sage.

Wetherell, M., Taylor, S. and Yates, S.J. (2001)(Eds.) Discourse theory and practice: A

reader. London: Sage.

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