What is the discourse theory?
Discourse theory proposes that in our daily activities the way we speak and write is shaped by the structures of power in our society, and that because our society is defined by struggle and conflict our discourses reflect and create conflicts.
What does Foucault say?
Foucault emphasizes that power is not discipline, rather discipline is simply one way in which power can be exercised. He also uses the term ‘disciplinary society’, discussing its history and the origins and disciplinary institutions such as prisons, hospitals, asylums, schools and army barracks.
What is Michel Foucault philosophy?
Foucault’s entire philosophy is based on the assumption that human knowledge and existence are profoundly historical. He argues that what is most human about man is his history. He discusses the notions of history, change and historical method at some length at various points in his career.
What is the relationship between discourse and power?
The discourse of power is used when it comes to differentiating the levels of power due to cultural and social characteristics that come about through societal upbringing. The ways we think and talk about a subject influence and reflect the ways we act in relation to that subject.
Where does the idea of discourse theory come from?
Discourse theory generally derives from the “ linguistic turn ” in the humanities and social sciences that traces back to the work of infl uential fi gures such as Ferdinand de Saussure, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and Michel Foucault (Rorty, 1992 ).
What did Michel Foucault mean by power of discourse?
Foucault’s alternative ideas of discourse/practice and of power as ‘positive’ are moreover intricately linked in a way that has not been sufficiently appreciated. This is evident in a genealogy of Foucault’s early work, where neither notion is able to take hold in the absence of the other.
Is the analysis of political discourse a new field?
The analysis of political discourse is scarcely new. The western classical tradition of rhetoric was in its various guises a means of codifying the way public orators used language for persuasive and other purposes.
What does Foucault mean by the term discursive practice?
Foucault (1978) asserts that discourse can transmit, produce, and reinforce power, but at the same time discourse can under- mine and expose power, rendering it unstable and possible to thwart. Discursive practices are practices that a subject embod- ies, lives, and experiences as s/he interacts with discourses.