How Discourse Is Used For Power And Knowledge, And For...

Discourse is a broad term with various definitions which â€Å"integrates a whole palette of meanings† (Titscher et al., 2000, p.42), covering a large area from linguistics, through sociology, philosophy and other disciplines. According to Fairclough (1989) the term refers to â€Å"the whole process of interaction of which a text is just a part† (Fairclough, 1989, p.24). As pervasive ways of experiencing the world, discourses refer to expressing oneself using words. Discourses can be used for asserting power and knowledge, and for resistance and critique. The speakers: Audolf Hitler and Winston Churchill ideological content in speeches as does the linguistic form of the speeches. That is, selection or choice of a linguistic form may not be a live process for the individual speaker, but the discourse will be a reproduction of that previously learned discourse. According to Schaffner (1996), political discourse, as a sub-category of discourse in general, can be based on t wo criteria: functional and thematic. Political discourse is a result of politics and it is historically and culturally determined. It fulfills different functions due to different political activities such as a democratic society and a dictatorship. It is thematic because its topics are primarily related to politics such as political activities, political ideas and political relations in this case, the topic of war. It is a common knowledge that politics is concerned with power: the power to make decisions, to controlShow MoreRelatedStrengths And Weaknesses Of Postmodernism713 Words   |  3 PagesPostmodernism or postculturalism, a term often also used, offer a very different and much more radical version of constructivism. 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