Skip to main content

Post-foundational Discourse Analysis: Theoretical Premises and Methodological Options

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Discourse, Culture and Organization

Part of the book series: Postdisciplinary Studies in Discourse ((PSDS))

Abstract

This chapter discusses from the Essex School in Discourse Analysis emanating approach to post-foundational discourse analysis (PDA). By elucidating its ontological and epistemological premises, this contribution shows what theoretical perspectives and methodological options PDA opens for empirical discourse research. These premises (relational epistemology, omnipresence of power, decentered subject, disclosing critique) do not only constitute the foundations of PDA’s research program, but they also apply to the Essex School in general. Moreover, these premises are not only of relevance for those interested in theoretical and methodological discussions, but they constitute also the heuristic framework that instructs discourse analysts about the general logics of discursive structuration of social life and how these logics can be observed and approached in empirical material.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

A

  • Alasuutari, P. (1996). Theorizing in Qualitative Research: A Cultural Studies Perspective. Qualitative Inquiry, 4(2), 371–384.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alvesson, M., & Sköldberg, K. (2000). Reflexive Methodology: New Vistas for Qualitative Research. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Angermuller, J. (2015). Why There Is No Poststructuralism in France: The Making of an Intellectual Generation. London: Bloomsbury.

    Google Scholar 

B

  • Barthes, R. (1982). The Imagination of the Sign. In S. Sontag (Ed.), The Barthes Reader (pp. 211–218). New York: Hill and Wang.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barthes, R. (1988). The Semiotic Challenge. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boltanski, L. (2010). Soziologie und Sozialkritik. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boucher, G. (2008). The Charmed Circle of Ideology: A Critique of Laclau, Mouffe, Butler and Žižek. Melbourne: Re-Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bourdieu, P. (1992). Homo Academicus. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burkitt, I. (2016). Relational Agency, Relational Sociology and Interaction. European Journal of Social Theory, 19(3), 322–339.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Butler, J. (2009). Critique, Dissent, Disciplinarity. Critical Inquiry, 35(3), 773–795.

    Article  Google Scholar 

C

  • Carpentier, N. (2017). The Discursive-Material Knot: Cyprus in Conflict and Community Media Participation. New York: Peter Lang.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Cederström, C., & Spicer, A. (2014). Discourse of the Real Kind: A Post-Foundational Approach to Organizational Discourse Analysis. Organization, 21(2), 178–205.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cooke, M. (2006). Resurrecting the Rationality of Ideology Critique: Reflections on Laclau and Ideology Critique. Constellations, 13(1), 4–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cooper, R. (2005). Relationality. Organization Studies, 26(11), 1689–1710.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Critchley, S. (2004). Is There a Normative Deficit in the Theory of Hegemony? In S. Critchley & O. Marchart (Eds.), Laclau: A Critical Reader (pp. 113–122). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crossley, N. (2011). Towards Relational Sociology. London/New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crowell, S. G. (1990). Husserl, Heidegger, and Transcendental Philosophy: Another Look at the Encyclopaedia Britannica Article. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 50(3), 501–551.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Culler, J. (1982). On Deconstruction: Theory and Criticism After Structuralism. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

D

  • Deleuze, G. (2004). How Do We Recognize Structuralism. In D. Laboujade (Ed.), Desert Island: and Other Texts 1953–1974 (pp. 170–192). Los Angeles: Semiotext(e).

    Google Scholar 

  • Derrida, J. (1982). Margins of Philosophy. Brighton: Harvester Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Derrida, J. (1997). Of Grammatology. Baltimore/London: John Hopkins University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Diaz-Bone, R. (2006). Zur Methodologisierung der Foucaultschen Diskursanalyse. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung/Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 7(1), Art. 6. http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs060168. Accessed 3 Mar 2010.

  • Diaz-Bone, R. (2010). Kulturwelt, Diskurs und Lebensstil: Eine Diskurstheoretische Erweiterung der Bourdieuschen Distinktionstheorie (2nd ed.). Wiesbaden: VS Verlag.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Dillet, B. (2017). What Is Poststructuralism? Political Studies Review, 15(4), 516–527.

    Article  Google Scholar 

E

  • Erikson, E. (2014). Review Essay: Relationalism Emergent. Contemporary Sociology, 44(1), 3–7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

F

  • Feyerabend, P. (1975). Against Method: Outline of an Anarchist Theory of Knowledge. London: New Left Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foucault, M. (1980). Nietzsche, Genealogy and History. In D. F. Bouchard (Ed.), Language, Counter-Memory, Practice: Selected Essays and Interviews by Michel Foucault (pp. 139–164). Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foucault, M. (1984). Truth and Power. In P. Rabinow (Ed.), Foucault Reader: An Introduction to Foucault’s Thought (pp. 51–75). London: Penguin Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frank, M. (1984). Was ist Neostrukturalismus? Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.

    Google Scholar 

G

  • Gadamer, H.-G. (1975). Truth and Method. London: Sheed & Ward.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gaukroger, S. W. (1976). Bachelard and the Problem of Epistemological Analysis. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A, 7(3), 189–244.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Geertz, C. (1980). Negara: The Theatre State in Nineteenth-Century Bali. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Glasze, G. (2007). Vorschläge zur Operationalisierung der Diskustheorie von Laclau und Mouffe in einer Triangulation von lexikometrischen und interpretativen Methoden. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung/Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 8(2), Art. 14. http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0702143. Accessed 17 Apr 2008.

  • Glynos, J. (2008). Ideological Fantasies at Work. Journal of Political Ideologies, 13(3), 275–296.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Glynos, J., & Howarth, D. (2007). Logics of Critical Explanation in Social and Political Theory. Abingdon: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Glynos, J., & Howarth, D. (2008). Critical Explanation in Social Science: A Logics Approach. Swiss Journal of Sociology, 54(1), 5–35.

    Google Scholar 

  • Glynos, J., Howarth, D., Norval, A., & Speed, E. (2009). Discourse Analysis: Varieties and Methods (Review Paper NCRM/014, Unpublished Discussion Paper). ESRC National Centre for Research Methods.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gramsci, A. (1971). Selection of Prison Notebooks. London: Lawrence and Wishart.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gumbrecht, H. U. (2004). Production of Presence: What Meaning Cannot Convey. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

H

  • Heidegger, M. (1967). Being and Time. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heidegger, M. (2008). Ontology: The Hermeneutics of Facticity. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Howarth, D. (2004a). Towards a Heideggerian Social Science: Heidegger, Kisiel and Weiner on the Limits of the Anthropological Discourse. Anthropological Theory, 4(2), 229–247.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Howarth, D. (2004b). Hegemony, Political Subjectivity, and Radical Democracy. In S. Critchley & O. Marchart (Eds.), Laclau: A Critical Reader (pp. 256–276). New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Howarth, D. (2006). The Method of Articulation. In M. van den Brink & T. Metze (Eds.), Words Matter in Policy and Planning: Discourse Theory and Method in Social Science (pp. 23–42). Utrecht: Labor Grafimedia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Howarth, D. (2013). Poststructuralism and After: Structure, Subjectivity and Power. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Howarth, D. (2015). Introduction: Discourse, Hegemony and Populism: Ernesto Laclau’s Political Theory. In D. Howarth (Ed.), Ernesto Laclau: Post-Marxism, Populism and Critique (pp. 1–20). London/New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

J

  • Jakobson, R. (1990). On Language. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

K

  • Keller, R. (2009). Das Interpretative Paradigma. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Keller, R. (2013). Doing Discourse Analysis: An Introduction for Social Scientists. London: Sage.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Kirchner, C., & Mohr, J. W. (2010). Meanings and Relations: An Introduction to the Study of Language, Discourse and Networks. Poetics, 38(6), 555–566.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koch, A. M. (1993). Poststructuralism and the Epistemological Basis of Anarchism. Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 23(3), 327–351.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Koch, A. M. (2005). Knowledge and Social Construction. Lanham: Lexington Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kompridis, N. (1994). On World Disclosure: Heidegger, Habermas and Dewey. Thesis Eleven, 37(29), 29–45.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kristeva, J. (1971). Essays in Semiotics. The Hague: Mouton.

    Google Scholar 

L

  • Lacan, J. (1977). Four Fundamental Concepts of Psycho-Analysis. London: The Hogarth Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laclau, E. (1980). Populist Rupture and Discourse. Screen Education, 34, 87–93.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laclau, E. (1990). New Reflections on the Revolution of Our Time. In E. Laclau (Ed.), New Reflections on the Revolution of Our Time (pp. 3–85). London: Verso.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laclau, E. (1996a). Emancipation(s). London: Verso.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laclau, E. (1999b). Hegemony and the Future of Democracy: Ernesto Laclau’s Political Philosophy. In L. Woshma & G. S. Olson (Eds.), Race, Rhetoric, and the Postcolonial (pp. 129–164). Albany: State University of New York Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laclau, E. (2004). Glimpsing the Future. In S. Critchley & O. Marchart (Eds.), Laclau: A Critical Reader (pp. 279–328). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laclau, E., & Mouffe, C. (1990). Post-Marxism Without Apologies. In E. Laclau (Ed.), New Reflections of The Revolution of Our Time (pp. 97–132). London: Verso.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laclau, E., & Mouffe, C. (2001). Hegemony and Socialist Strategy: Towards a Radical Democratic Politics (2nd ed.). London: Verso.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laclau, E., & Zac, L. (1994). Minding the Gap: The Subject of Politics. In E. Laclau (Ed.), The Making of Political Identities (pp. 11–39). London: Verso.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lakatos, I. (1969). Criticism and the Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society New Series, 70, 149–186.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lakatos, I. (1970). Falsification and the Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes. In I. Lakatos & A. Musgrave (Eds.), Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge (pp. 91–196). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Lakatos, I. (1999). Lecture 8: The Methodology of Scientific Research Programmes. In M. Motterlini (Ed.), For and Against Method (pp. 96–108). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Latour, B. (2004). Why Has Critique Run Out of Steam? From Matters of Fact to Matters of Concern. Critical Inquiry, 30(2), 225–248.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leggett, W. (2013). Restoring Society to Post-Structuralist Politics Mouffe, Gramsci and Radical Democracy. Philosophy & Social Criticism, 39(3), 299–315.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lemke, T. (2015). New Materialisms: Foucault and the ‘Government of Things’. Theory, Culture & Society, 32(4), 3–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

M

  • MacKenzie, I., & Porter, R. (2017). Drama Out of a Crisis? Poststructuralism and the Politics of Everyday Life. Political Studies Review, 15(4), 528–538.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marchart, O. (2007). Post-Foundational Political Thought: Political Difference in Nancy, Lefort, Badiou and Laclau. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Marchart, O. (2011). Democracy and Minimal Politics: The Political Difference and Its Consequences. The South Atlantic Quarterly, 110(4), 965–973.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marttila, T. (2015a). Post-Foundational Discourse Analysis: From Political Difference to Empirical Research. London: Palgrave.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marttila, T. (2015b). Post-Foundational Discourse Analysis: A Suggestion for a Research Program. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung/Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 16(3), Art. 1. http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs150319. Accessed 28 Feb 2018.

  • Marttila, T. (2018). Neoliberalism, the Knowledge-Based Economy and Entrepreneur as Metaphor. In D. Cahill, M. Cooper, M. Konings, & D. Primrose (Eds.), Sage Handbook of Neoliberalism (pp. 565–579). Thousand Oaks: Sage.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Marttila, T., & Gengnagel, V. (2015). Post-Foundational Discourse Analysis and the Impasses of Critical Inquiry. Journal for Discourse Studies, 3(1), 50–69.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marx, K., & Engels, F. (1976). The German Ideology: Part 1. New York: International Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mattissek, A., & Glasze, G. (2016). Discourse Analysis in German-Language Human Geography: Integrating Theory and Method. Social and Cultural Geography, 17(1), 39–51.

    Article  Google Scholar 

N

  • Nonhoff, M. (2006). Politischer Diskurs und Hegemonie: Das Projekt ‘Soziale Marktwirtschaft’. Bielefeld: transcript.

    Book  Google Scholar 

P

  • Pantzerhielm, L. (2018). Contingent Materialities as Sedimented Articulations: Anti-Essentialist Discourse Analysis and Materialism at the Nexus of IR and Political Theory. In J. Beetz & V. Schwab (Eds.), Material Discourse – Materialist Discourse Analysis (pp. 95–112). Lanham: Lexington Books.

    Google Scholar 

R

  • Raaphorst, K. (2018). Knowing Your Audience: The Contingency of Landscape Design Interpretations. Journal of Urban Design. Published Online: https://doi.org/10.1080/13574809.2018.1426986. Accessed 27 Feb 2018.

  • Rabinow, P., & Sullivan, W. M. (1979). Introduction: The Interpretive Turn: Emergence of an Approach. In P. Rabinow & W. M. Sullivan (Eds.), Interpretive Social Science: A Reader (pp. 1–24). Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Ricoeur, P. (1979). The Rule of Metaphor: Multi-Disciplinary Studies of the Creation of Meaning in Language. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

    Google Scholar 

S

  • Saukko, P. (2003). Doing Research in Cultural Studies: An Introduction to Classical and New Methodological Approaches. London: Sage.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Saussure, F. (1959). Course in General Linguistics. London: Peter Owen.

    Google Scholar 

  • Selg, P., & Ventsel, A. (2010). An Outline for a Semiotic Theory of Hegemony. Semiotica, 182(1), 443–474.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sewell, W. H. (1999). The Concept(s) of Culture. In V. E. Bonnell & L. Hunt (Eds.), Beyond the Cultural Turn: New Directions in the Study of Society and Culture (pp. 35–61). Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Somers, M. S. (1994). The Narrative Constitution of Identity: A Relational and Network Approach. Theory & Society, 23(5), 605–649.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stavrakakis, Y. (2007). The Lacanian Left: Psychoanalysis, Theory, Politics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

T

  • Tiles, M. (1984). Bachelard: Science and Objectivity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Tønder, L., & Thomassen, L. (2005). Introduction: Rethinking Radical Democracy Between Abundance and Lack. In L. Tønder & L. Thomassen (Eds.), Radical Democracy: Politics Between Abundance and Lack (pp. 1–13). Manchester: Manchester University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Torfing, J. (1999). New Theories of Discourse: Laclau, Mouffe and Žižek. Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Townshend, J. (2004). Laclau & Mouffe’s Hegemonic Project: The Story So Far. Political Studies, 52, 269–288.

    Article  Google Scholar 

V

  • Vandenberghe, F. (1999). ‘The Real Is Relational’: An Epistemological Analysis of Pierre Bourdieu’s Generative Structuralism. Sociological Theory, 17(1), 32–67.

    Article  Google Scholar 

W

  • White, H. C. (1992). Identity and Control: A Structural Theory of Social Action. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilden, A. (1987). The Rules Are No Game: The Strategy of Communication. London/ New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul.

    Google Scholar 

Z

  • Žižek, S. (1991). For They Do Not Know What They Do: Enjoyment as a Political Factor. London: Verso.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tomas Marttila .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Marttila, T. (2019). Post-foundational Discourse Analysis: Theoretical Premises and Methodological Options. In: Marttila, T. (eds) Discourse, Culture and Organization. Postdisciplinary Studies in Discourse. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94123-3_2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94123-3_2

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-94122-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-94123-3

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics