Critical Discourse Analysis: History, Agenda, Theory, and Methodology
Wodak-3795-Ch-01:Wodak-3795-Ch-01.QXP
9/29/2008
4:29 PM
Page 1
1
Critical Discourse Analysis: History, Agenda, Theory, and Methodology1
Ruth Wodak and Michael Meyer
CDA – What is it all about? A brief history of the ‘CDA Group’ The common ground: discourse, critique, power and ideology Main research agenda and challenges Differences and similarities – beyond the social dimension Methodology Summary and criticism
1 3 4 11 19 23 32
CDA – What is it all about?
In this chapter, we first provide a brief ‘story’ – how it all began; then we present an overview of some important research agendas in CDA and discuss new challenges for CDA research. Secondly, we discuss the various theoretical and methodological approaches assembled in this volume from a sociological and epistemological perspective.2 There, we focus mostly on three central and constitutive concepts: power, ideology and critique. We also, of course, summarize some of the salient principles which are constitutive of all approaches in CDA. In addition, we mention some important criticism which CDA has been confronted with in the past years (see Billig, 2003, 2008; Chilton, 2007; Chilton and Wodak, 2007;Wodak and Cillia, 2006 for an extensive discussion of this issue). The terms Critical Linguistics (CL) and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) are often used interchangeably. In fact, recently, the term CDA seems to have been preferred and is being used to denote the theory formerly identified as CL.Therefore, we will continue to use CDA exclusively here (see Anthonissen, 2001; Chilton and Wodak, 2007 for an extensive discussion of these terms and their history). The manifold roots of CDA lie in Rhetoric, Text linguistics, Anthropology, Philosophy, Socio-Psychology, Cognitive Science, Literary Studies and Sociolinguistics, as well as in Applied Linguistics and Pragmatics.
Wodak-3795-Ch-01:Wodak-3795-Ch-01.QXP
9/29/2008
4:29 PM
Page 2
2
M E T H O D S O F C R I T I C A L D
9/29/2008
4:29 PM
Page 1
1
Critical Discourse Analysis: History, Agenda, Theory, and Methodology1
Ruth Wodak and Michael Meyer
CDA – What is it all about? A brief history of the ‘CDA Group’ The common ground: discourse, critique, power and ideology Main research agenda and challenges Differences and similarities – beyond the social dimension Methodology Summary and criticism
1 3 4 11 19 23 32
CDA – What is it all about?
In this chapter, we first provide a brief ‘story’ – how it all began; then we present an overview of some important research agendas in CDA and discuss new challenges for CDA research. Secondly, we discuss the various theoretical and methodological approaches assembled in this volume from a sociological and epistemological perspective.2 There, we focus mostly on three central and constitutive concepts: power, ideology and critique. We also, of course, summarize some of the salient principles which are constitutive of all approaches in CDA. In addition, we mention some important criticism which CDA has been confronted with in the past years (see Billig, 2003, 2008; Chilton, 2007; Chilton and Wodak, 2007;Wodak and Cillia, 2006 for an extensive discussion of this issue). The terms Critical Linguistics (CL) and Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) are often used interchangeably. In fact, recently, the term CDA seems to have been preferred and is being used to denote the theory formerly identified as CL.Therefore, we will continue to use CDA exclusively here (see Anthonissen, 2001; Chilton and Wodak, 2007 for an extensive discussion of these terms and their history). The manifold roots of CDA lie in Rhetoric, Text linguistics, Anthropology, Philosophy, Socio-Psychology, Cognitive Science, Literary Studies and Sociolinguistics, as well as in Applied Linguistics and Pragmatics.
Wodak-3795-Ch-01:Wodak-3795-Ch-01.QXP
9/29/2008
4:29 PM
Page 2
2
M E T H O D S O F C R I T I C A L D