3 b media discourses
- 1. Media DiscoursesFlinders UniversityAugust 2011Paul Emerson Teusner
- 2. What is discourse?Type of speechSystem of relationship conventionsSocially constructed knowledge contained in regulated systems of statements, conventions or language use
- 3. “To begin with, I could argue that I am insisting that the historical materialist reading of ideologies starts with social relations and determines the ideologies which they necessitate in their practical operation. It does not start with discourses and induce from them their generative social relations.”Colin Sumner, Reading Ideologies: An investigation into the Marxist Theory of Ideology and the Law
- 4. “He’s a bachelor. He has a dog. Sam the Blue Heeler. He basically works seven days a week and, despite his work and workload, his white-on-white Hawthorn townhouse is a dream scene of cleanliness and order. It is bright, new, open, airy, modern and north facing, which means the merest hint of lint is going to show in the glare bouncing off the pale, stone-paved courtyard and in through the glass walls of french doors.” Domain Magazine, The Age, 31st March, 2004.
- 5. “The Sabbath is a day of delightful communion with God and one another. It is a symbol of our redemption in Christ, a sign of our sanctification, a token of our allegiance, and a foretaste of our eternal future in God’s kingdom.”Seventh-day Adventist Statement of Faith #19
- 6. Discourse theoryConcerned with how language shapes our worldAsks:What is the relationship between language and social relations?How do media texts contribute to the maintenance or shaping of relationships of power and structure in society?
- 7. Michel Foucault1926-1984Social historian, sociologist, philosopherDefinitions and distinctions of powerPower as capacityPower as forcePower as authoritySocial relations of powerPower as action on action
- 8. Power vsgovernmentalityTo govern is to structure the possible field of action of othersRelies on premise that all individuals have power
- 9. DiscoursesThey reflect particular values and identitiesThey highlight the power of dominant groups to insist on some meanings and exclude others, sometimes through single words or images.Key words link us into the meanings of the wider discourseFoucault argues that discourses actually create “regimes of truth” and therefore shape our perceptions.
- 11. Some common discoursesDiscourses of wealth and povertyDiscourses of national destiny and identityDiscourses of gender and sexualityDiscourses of terrorismDiscourses of the market
- 12. Norman FaircloughUK, still living and still involvedLanguage in the New CapitalismInterest in the relationship between social structures, practices and discourse
- 14. ExamplesDiscourseFamilyWorkerPublicConsumerideologyValues, morals, educationRights, ownership, statusService, greater goodChoice, lifestyle, freedom
- 16. BenefitsHighlights the force of words and texts in how we identify ourselves and our place in the worldDiscerns how new language can lead to new forms of powerUnderstands power as not something imposed on us, but something we all participate in
- 17. CriticismsToo bound by its desire to call things “subjective”Too bound in words – discourses can be identified in other forms of communication