What Does Foucault Mean By ‘Discourse'?
What Does Foucault Mean By Discourse'?
What Does Foucault Mean By Discourse'?
According to Michel Foucault, the term discourse means "an entity of a sequence of signs that they are enouncements". Enouncement, often translated is an abstract matter that enable allows particular repeatable relations to subjects, objects and other enouncements. Therefore, discourse is a collection of relations to objects, subjects and announcements. Foucault uses the concept of discursive formation, which includes regularities that generate discourses to relate his study of quantitative information which include among others, natural history and political economy.
In the traditional sense, discourse has been used to study the relation between language, structure and agency, and the philosophy of science. These traditional studies are conducted in the areas of ethnography, sociology, anthropology, cultural studies, literary theory and feminist studies. Based on the given fields of study, the concept of discourse is subjected to discourse (discussion/dialogue). That is, it is subjected to a debate founded on specialized information. In addition, discourse is also seen in multimedia methods of communication which include written, signed and spoken language in contexts ranging from textbooks to instantaneous message conversations to oral history.
In the fields of social sciences and humanities, discourse refers to a recognized method of thinking that can be evidenced by use of language or by social boundaries which define what can be thought in relation to a particular topic. According to Judith Butler, the recognized method of thinking (discourse) can be manifested through "the limits of acceptable speech". In life, it is not possible to avoid discourses as they do affect how we do everything around us.For example, one can use two different discourses when describing various movements of fighters. They can either be described as freedom fighters or as terrorists. By having different discourses to describe a specific thing or a specific topic, each of the chosen discourses delivers the style, the expression or even the vocabulary required to communicate. Since in most cases discourse is used to define reality itself, it is closely associated with different theories of state and power. Michel Foucault discusses the concept of discourse from four different perspectives, that is, modernism, structuralism, postmodernism and feminism as discussed below.
According to modernism, Foucault says that modern theorists' focal point was around achieving advancement. They believed that there exist natural and social laws that can be used collectively to generate knowledge and hence a better understanding of the society. In his own view, Foucault argued that most of the modern theorist thought scientifically and hence directly great effort towards development of theories in order to ascertain truth and reality of facts with certainty. Therefore, according to Foucault, most of these theorists just looked at discourse as a way of conversing, which means to them, discourse was functional. The need to make advancements and/or create new and more perfect words to express new discoveries, areas of interest or understandings is associated with language changes and discourse.
In modernism, discourse and language have been conceptualized as a normal product of common intelligence usage or progress and they have been distanced from ideology and power. Foucault further explains that modernism has given rise to the broad-minded discourses of justice, equality, freedom and rights. However, according to Regnier, this open-minded expression has covered substantive disparity and has failed to give an explanation for the differences.
In structuralism, Foucault refers to structuralist theorists like Jacques Lacan and Ferdinand de Saussure. These theorists argue that social structures and all human deeds are connected to discourse and language and that they can be identified as systems of interconnected components. This is to mean that single components of a system only become important when thought of in relation to the whole structure. Here, structures are recognized as autonomous, self-transforming and self-sufficient units. It can therefore be said that the significance or the importance of an individual component of a system is determined by the structure. The concept of discourse is an important element in explaining social and cultural analysis because according to the structuralism, it has made an important contribution in helping us understand different social systems and different languages.
During the post modern era, there emerged a contrast in modernism theories that claimed a theoretical approach in explaining the aspects of the society. Postmodernists were concerned with investigating the range of occurrence of individuals and groups. They therefore embarked on examining discourses such as policies, practices, language and text. It is during this time that Foucault generated a concept of discourse early in 1972 in his book titled Archaeology of Knowledge.
Free 1000 Calorie Challenge Workout My Perfect Skin Lightener Voyage How to choose the right table covers for your tables Glamorous Brown Temple Wear Sarees Healing a Herniated Disc is Possible Free Cover Letter Creator Freeware Way finding: how exactly it works Bring Your Company Into The Paperless World With An Innovative Document Scanner Ayrton Senna Horoscope How Taking MYOB Courses Can Help You Woods' Biggest Trouble Nightlife In The Middle East To Treat The Advantage Flea There Is A Very Effective Way