DISCOURSE POWER AND ANALYSIS Broadly speaking, inculcation is the mechanism of power-holders who wish to preserve their power, while communication is the mechanism of emancipation and the struggle against domination (Fairclough 2003: 63).

Construction of language Non-arbitrary Determined by social conditions particular environments, institutions and society as a whole

Social conditions determine: properties of discourse (the parts that constitute it) and types of discourse (valuable and less- valuable discourses)

Discourse connected to the whole of society implies that: 1.Language is part of society and not something external to it 2.That language is a social process: interconnected, regulated 3. Language is a socially conditioned processes: conditioned (by other non- linguistic)parts of society

Text and discourse Text: (a product of the process of text production) the product of social interaction, utterance Discourse: the whole process of social interaction including text

The conditioning of discoursive language MR (members’ resources) Cognitive but dependent on social relations Internalized and naturalized MR part of the individual’s psyche Resources for life

Social conditions and levels of social organization 1.Social situation: the immediate social environment in which the discourse occurs 2. Social institution; wider contexts 3. Society as a whole: Structures of capitalist society

Why is it important to see language as discourse and discourse as a social practice?

Because looking at this relationship: Forces as to be critical thinkers Understand our position in the world Understand social structures Understand the non neutrality of discourses

What is cultural capital?

What do we mean by the notion that discourse is a product of social structures and the producer of social structures?

Economic and cultural capital Unequally distributed in society (literacy, professions, some knowledges)

Discourses carry particular knowledges and power Institutional system Reproducers of structures of power Limited access

Can we regard access to social and economic capital as purely an individual achievement?

Do people resist power relation and discourse?

Constraints on less powerful participants Constraints on contents Constraints on relations Constraints on subjects

Discussion Describe an institutional or social situation in which you were expected to speak, and behave in a particular way? How is this situation a product of social conditions? How does the situation facilitate access or non-access to cultural capital?