DISCOURSE AND POWER

A Lecture by Dr. Syed Kazim Shah

1. An Introductory Lecture on Van Dijk’s Book DISCOURSE AND POWER by Dr. SYED KAZIM SHAH Associate Prof. in English, Govt. College University Faisalabad, Pakistan [email protected] Prepared by Muhammad Ahmad

2. INTRODUCTION This book is very complex Its structure is very difficult to understand There is a repetition/overlapping/extension of ideas The structure/construction of ideas is complex My aim is to clear the ambiguities regarding its structure Book starts with the definition of discourse and critical discourse analysis

3. CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS CDA is a type of discourse analytical research that primarily studies the way social power abuse, dominance and inequalities are enacted, reproduced and resisted by text and talk in social and political contexts. It means; Text and talk represent relationship b/w discourse and power Therefore, discourse and power can be analyzed by analyzing text and talk For, major focal concern of CDA is power and discourse i.e. how power is exercised, abused, enacted, and how dominance is created Thus, CDA aims to analyze social inequalities through text and talk In this way, discourse works as a product

4. DISCOURSE AS A PRODUCT It’s a product of social inequalities It deals with relations b/w discourse and power to expose and resist social inequalities Therefore, it analyzes power abuse and resistance against it

5. DISCOURSE AS A TOOL Discourse focuses on how compound structures legitimize and reproduce relation b/w power and dominance in society Here discourse appears as a tool It contributes to the legitimization or legalization of dominance and power abuse Discourse structure is a tool

6. REVIEW We discussed 3 points so far; Aim of CDA is to Analyze Discourse as a Product which is representative of Social Inequalities Discourse is a Product which resists and minimizes social inequalities Discourse is a tool

7. DISCOURSE IS SUBJECTIVE Rejects the possibilities of value free science. For, inequalities are inherently a part of social structure and are influenced by social interactions. On this ground, van Dijk REJECTS VALUE FREE SCIENCE It implies that DISCOURSE is SUBJECTIVE Another reason for it is that social as well as political structures are NOT VALUE FREE They are IDEOLOGICAL , BELIEF BASED , OPINION BASED Therefore, van Dijk claims that DISCOURSE is BIASED/SUBJECTIVE

8. MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACH of CDA CDA is not a Direction, School or Specialization Rather, it aims to use different modes or perspectives of theorizing, analyzing and applications throughout the whole field It implies that CDA is not a SEPARATE DISCIPLINE, not a TOOL, not a THEORY Rather, it uses every discipline/field/model Thus, CDA is MULTIDISCIPLINAY in nature i.e. We can use, Sociolinguistics, Psycholinguistics, Psychology, Sociology, Anthropology, Political Science, Literary Analysis, etc.

9. CHARACTERISTICS OF CDA CDA research needs to satisfy a number of requirements to realize its aim i.e. It is better than other fields ’ researches It employs a wide range of approaches It focuses on bigger social problems and political issues rather than current petty issues It is multidisciplinary It is not descriptive. Instead, it is explanatory It doesn’t asks ‘how much’. Instead, it asks ‘why’ It focuses on the ways discourse structures enact, confirm, legitimate, reproduce and challenge the relation between power and dominance in society Thus, the Question of ‘Why’ is directed towards Power and Discourse Relationship i.e. how such structures are used to maintain power, to exercise power, to abuse power, to legitimize power etc. are addressed by CDA

10. FIRST-PART REVIEW In first part van Dijk explains the nature, objectives and role of CDA

11. COMPARISON WITH OTHER WRITERS ( Fairclough , Huckins , Wodak ) There are certain points of agreement among all CDA Experts i.e. CDA addresses social problems Power relations are discursive Discourse constitutes society and culture Discourse does ideological work Discourse is historical (Synchronic as well as diachronic) Discourse is analyzed pragmatically as well historically The link b/w text and society is mediated Discourse analysis is interpretive and explanatory Discourse is a form of social action Discourse is not passive. Rather, discourse is Active(actor)

12. CONCEPTUAL & THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK of DISCOURSE & POWER CDA is not a specific direction of research CDA doesn’t have a unitary framework CDA has many forms/types which are theoretically as well as analytically quite diverse (e.g. CDA of conversation is different from the CDA of a News item) Text analysis has a key place in CDA Power, dominance, hegemony, discursive practices, ideologies, class, gender, race, discrimination, interest, reproduction, institution, social structure, social order are commonly used terms by all CDA Experts

13. MICRO VS MACRO ANALYSIS Micro analysis operates at text level (lexical items, discourse patterns, paragraphs, cohesion etc) whereas, Macro analysis operates at social and cognitive levels (power, dominance, ideology, inequality, exploitation among social groups) CDA is a combination of macro and micro analysis A racist speech in parliament is a discourse at the micro level of social interaction Every individual discourse is the part of a bigger discourse e.g. speech in parliament against blacks is not an individual discourse In above example individual speech is a micro level discourse, but as a part of bigger discourse, it is a macro level discourse Thus, there is no singular discourse. Instead, every discourse is the part of a bigger discourse by a group or institution There is no personal discourse. (In Fact) every discourse is shared

14. WAYS to BRIDGE GAP B/W MICRO & MACRO LEVELS Members’ groups (language users engage in discourse as the members of several social groups/organizations/institutions) Action process (Social acts are individual acts and thus are the constituent part of group action and social process) So, if there are no individual actions, there are no social acts All events are social events, all acts are social acts (bill in parliament is also a social act) As man is a social animal, so his actions are also social

15. CONTEXT SOCIAL STRUCTURE Situations of discursive social interaction are the primarily part of social structure e.g. press conference may be typical organization of media institution which is global and local context are closely related and both exercise constraint on discourse “Every context is the part of a social structure” [Translation]

16. PERSONAL & SOCIAL COGNITION Language users, as social actors, have both personal and social cognition (episodic memory) Personal cognition is micro level cognition whereas social cognition is macro level cognition There’s no personal cognition. Everything has its trace to social cognition

17. CHAPTER REVIEW This part discusses; Nature and objectives of CDA Points of agreement among different CDA Experts Conceptual framework of CDA Relationship b/w Micro & Macro levels

18. POWER IS CONTROL van Dijk discusses social power in terms of control Groups are powerful, if they can control the minds of other groups Power can be resisted through power deterrents e.g. power of knowledge can be resisted with the power of knowledge Powerful groups exploit the less powerful CDA explains the causes behind exploitation

19. POWER BASE There should be base/resource for power e.g. teachers’ power base is their knowledge and status Privilege access to scarce social resources (knowledge, status, etc.) “the more the access the more the power” [Translation]

20. TYPES OF POWER Types of power can be distinguished according to a person’s access to power e.g. Power of knowledge if it’s based on knowledge. Similarly, Power of status Physical power (Coercive, it’s based on threat) Institutional power Ethical power Coercive power Power of money Persuasive (logical) power Emotional power Hegemony “ Powerful groups abuse power” To be powerful one has to get access to power resources Economic independence is a key to power

21. HEGEMONY Sometimes power/control appears to be natural i.e. Power of dominant groups is legalized through laws, traditions, culture etc. Such state of affairs is known as Hegemony and such power is called hegemonic power It becomes a part of tradition culture, habits, law Access to resources and then access to different forms of discourse is also a power So, by accessing different resources of power, combined with the access to different forms of power, one can become powerful Action is controlled by the mind. So, a person being able to control minds, can exercise control over the actions Mind is controlled by text and talk (discourse) and then actions are controlled with the help of mind Thus, it implies that discourse indirectly controls actions

22. PART SUMMARY A group, with an influential discourse, has more chances to control the minds and actions of the people People, who have control over most influential discourses (media, religion, education), are likely to have more control over minds and actions (here discourse is a tool)

23. FOCUS OF CDA/DONINANCE It focuses on the abuse of power in general and dominance in particular Dominance means an illegitimate exercise of power

24. ACCESS & DISCOURSE CONTROL Power base of a group/institution is also a source/access to control over public discourse Communication is an important symbolic resource in case of media, knowledge and information Access to and control over a discourse is one of the main power bases ( if someone contributes to discourse, he’s powerful. Silent people are mostly powerless) Passive people are the target of text and talk Some people produce and some receive discourse Powerful people are the producers while the powerless ones are always receivers of discourse

25. CONTROL OVER DISCOURSE PROPERTIES Members of more powerful social groups or institutions have an exclusive access to more than one type of discourse e.g. Professor controls scholarly discourse Teacher controls educational discourse Journalist controls media discourse Lawyer controls legal discourse Politician controls policy/political discourse People with control over more and more influential discourse properties are by definition more powerful

26. NOTIONS OF DISCOURSE ACCESS Notions of discourse access and control are very general CDA’s task is to spell out these forms of power If discourse is defined in terms of complex communicative events, access and control may be defined for both i.e. context and structure of text and talk e.g. In a seminar, people who are not allowed to enter, they have no access to context In the same seminar some persons are given written material to the speakers, they have textual, contextual and thematic control

27. LEVELS OF ACCESS & CONTROL Micro/Individual/Personal level: It can be observed in everyday conversation Macro Level: e.g. scholarly, journalistic, etc.

28. FORMS OF ACCESS & CONTROL Context Control: control over communicative events, context, setting, genre, mental representation, content participation etc. Structure Control: control over genre and structure like editor’s control over the selection or rejection of news, words, images etc. structure forms from the use of adjectives or metaphor In both of these forms two things are common i.e. (1) Positive Self and (2) Negative Other Representation Therefore, there’s always a conflict b/w ‘Us’ VS ‘Them’ “IDEOLOGY HITS AT THE SUBCONSCIOUS” Polarization of Us VS Them which characterizes social representation and they are underlining ideologies to express and produce level of text and talk in contrastive topics, local meanings, metaphors, hyperbole, syntax, lexicalization, collocation images etc. All levels and structure of context, text and talk can be more or less controlled by powerful speakers and such power may abused at the expense of other participants

29. FORMS OF ACCESS & CONTROL Conti… 3. Mind Control: if controlling discourse is a first major form of discourse, controlling minds is another fundamental way to reproduce dominance and hegemony Within a CDA Framework, mind control involves more than just acquiring beliefs about the world through discourse and communication It is mediated through discourse, especially news Knowledge, beliefs, opinions coming through discourse from reliable/authentic sources tend to influence/control people’s mind

30. EFFCTIVE MIND CONTROL Mind control becomes effective when; Audience behaves as a passive discourse recipient There is no alternative discourse There is a lack of knowledge about the discourse people are exposed to There is no resistance

31. HOW TO ANALYZE MIND? Like mind control, mind analysis is also equally important Mind can be analyzed through distinguishing b/w (1) episodic and (2) social memory as well as by analyzing (1) Text and (2) Talk EPISODIC MEMORY Store of experiences and subjective representations is called mental model a.k.a. context model Mental models consist of specific knowledge Personal experiences and ongoing situations also form context models (Previous observation + Current observations) By analyzing context models one can analyze mind Second type of

32. SOCIAL MEMORY It Concerns Social Representation It focuses on General and socio-cultural norms, knowledge, attitude, etc that people share in groups CDA Focuses on how discourse structure influences Mental Representation At global level of discourse CDA focuses on topics like schemata, order, prominence, etc. At local level CDA focuses on local semantic information like students’ information about their teacher