Bringing Discourse Theory into Media Studies

The applicability of Discourse Theoretical Analysis (DTA) for the Study of media practises and discourses

Bibliographic Data

ID6084810
AuthorsN Carpentier (0000-0002-8996-4636), Benjamin De Cleen (0000-0002-6118-8444)
Year2007
Volume6
Issue2
Pages265-293
Publication date2007-12-21
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Language and Politics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1569-2159 • E-ISSN: 1569-9862
PublisherJohn Benjamins Publishing Company (PUBLISHER • NL)
DOI10.1075/jlp.6.2.08car
OpenAlexW2076477348
LanguageEN
Citations received82
References cited30

When Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe published an elaborate version of their discourse theory inHegemony and Socialist Strategy(1985), they were met with fierce resistance by a unified front of traditional Marxists and anti-poststructuralists. The debates on post-Marxism dominated much of the book’s reception. This focus, combined with discourse theory’s rather abstract nature, its lack of clear methodological guidelines, and its more natural habitat of Political Studies, caused discourse theory to remain confined to this realm of Political Studies, despite the broad ideological definition of the political preferred by the authors. This article aims to revisit discourse theory and bring it into the realm of Media Studies. A necessary condition to enhance discourse theory’s applicability in Media Studies is the re-articulation of discourse theory into discourse theoretical analysis (DTA). DTA’s claim for legitimacy is supported in this article by two lines of argument. Firstly, a comparison with Critical Discourse Analyses (CDA) at the textual and contextual level allow us to flesh out the similarities — and more importantly — the differences between CDA and DTA. Secondly, DTA’s applicability is demonstrated by putting it to work in a case study, which focuses on the articulation of audience participation through televisional practices. Both lines of argument aim to illustrate the potential, the adaptability and the legitimacy of DTA’s move into media studies

Argument (complex analysis · Articulation (sociology · Civil discourse · Critical discourse analysis · Discourse analysis · Epistemology · Hegemony · Ideology · Legitimacy · Linguistics · Political science · Politics · Realm · Sociology · Discourse Analysis in Language Studies · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Social Media and Politics · Law · Philosophy

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