Global capitalism and critical awareness of language.

As the shape of the new global social order becomes clearer, so too does the need for a critical awareness of language as part of language education. I discuss, with a focus on discourse, several key features of late modern society which help make the case for critical awareness of discourse: the relationship between discourse, knowledge and social change in our 'information' or 'knowledge-based' society; what Smith (1990) has called the 'textually-mediated' nature of contemporary social life; the relationship between discourse and social difference; the commodification of discourse; discourse and democracy. I then draw these together by tying the case for CLA to the nature of the new global capitalism, and conclude the paper with discussions of how CLA is anchored in 'critical discourse analysis' (and, through that, in critical social science generally), and of how the question of CLA is framed within the wider question of the nature and purposes of education

Textual Analysis : Chapter 13.

Interpretive political science focuses on the meanings that shape actions and institutions, and the ways in which they do so. This Handbook explores the implications of interpretive theory for the study of politics. It provides the first definitive survey of the field edited by two of its pioneers. Written by leading scholars from a range of disciplinary backgrounds, the Handbook’s 32 chapters are split into five parts which explore: the contrast between interpretive theory and mainstream political science; the main forms of interpretive theory and the theoretical concepts associated with interpretive political science; the methods used by interpretive political scientists; the insights provided by interpretive political science on empirical topics; the implications of interpretive political science for professional practices such as policy analysis, planning, accountancy, and public health. With an emphasis on the applications of interpretive political science to a range of topics and disciplines, this Handbook is an invaluable resource for students, scholars, and practitioners in the areas of international relations, comparative politics, political sociology, political psychology, and public administration

CDA AS DIALECTICAL REASONING: CRITIQUE, EXPLANATION AND ACTION

In this chapter I summarize how my approach to CDA has changed over 30 years, and then present the most recent version of it: CDA as ‘dialectical reasoning’. This emphasizes the relationship between critique, explanation and action. I discuss how this view of CDA might support political action to change social life for the better, referring to the ‘Kilburn Manifesto’ for transcending neoliberalism.  The focus upon dialectical reasoning and political action differentiates this chapter from one in an earlier Routledge Handbook (Fairclough 2012).

Representaciones del cambio en el discurso neoliberal.

Me propongo tratar en este artículo en torno a las representaciones del cambio, específicamente aquellas referidas al cambio económico y social, así como a la emergencia de un nuevo orden socioeconómico en el nuevo capitalismo «global». Entre los aspectos a considerar, dedicaré especial atención a la forma según la cual el cambio se construye como inevitable --como circunstancia externa, de hecho, que debe aceptarse sin reversibilidad o reorientación posible, como un proceso sin actores responsables. Observaré tales representaciones del cambio como elemento significativo del discurso neoliberal, así como sus vías de diseminación --desde organismos internacionales a gobiernos nacionales y partidos políticos, hasta sectores específicos como la educación y el gobierno local. El problema específico de las representaciones del cambio se sitúa, a mi juicio, dentro de un ámbito de investigación más amplio, el papel del lenguaje en el nuevo capitalismo, de manera que comenzaré por enmarcar mi enfoque en relación a este último

Analyse et évaluation de l’argumentation dans l’analyse critique du discours (CDA) : délibération et dialectique des Lumières

Cet article représente le développement de notre récent travail sur le discours politique, centré sur les réactions politiques à l’actuelle crise financière et économique en Grande-Bretagne. Considérant le discours politique comme doté d’un caractère essentiellement argumentatif, et plus spécifiquement comme une forme d’argumentation et de délibération pratiques, nous soutenons qu’une analyse critique de ce discours appelle à intégrer la théorie et l’analyse de l’argumentation à la version de l’analyse critique du discours (CDA) avec laquelle nous travaillons. La présentation de cette version de la CDA, et de notre approche de l’analyse et de l’évaluation de l’argumentation et de la délibération pratiques, est suivie d’une illustration de la démarche. Celle-ci se réfère à une partie du discours sur le Budget prononcé en juin 2010 par Georges Osborne, Chancelier de l’Echiquier du gouvernement britannique de coalition entre conservateurs et libéraux démocrates, et à la mise en cause critique de la stratégie d’austérité du gouvernement qui eu lieu dans le débat public, particulièrement dans les média. Dans la dernière partie de cet article, nous avançons que notre approche innovatrice de l’analyse et de l’évaluation de l’argumentation et de la délibération pratiques contribue de manière particulièrement efficace à promouvoir l’objectif de la CDA : étendre au discours les formes de critique répandues dans le champ de la théorie sociale critique. Nous nous appuyons pour ce faire sur les débats qui traitent des rapports entre critique et rationalité. Nous posons que l’approche normative que nous adoptons est nécessaire pour intégrer l’analyse du discours argumentatif à la critique, et que notre démarche est en parfait accord avec les objectifs de la théorie critique, du moins tels que Habermas les conçoit.This paper is a development of our recent work on political discourse, which has focused upon British political responses to the current financial and economic crisis. We take political discourse to be primarily argumentative in character, and more specifically to be primarily practical argumentation and deliberation, and we argue that critical analysis of political discourse requires us to incorporate argumentation theory and analysis into the version of critical discourse analysis (CDA) which we work with. We present this version of CDA, and our approach to analysis and evaluation of practical argumentation and deliberation, and then illustrate our approach with reference to part of the Budget speech which George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer in the British Conservative-Liberal Democratic Coalition government, gave in June 2010 and to the critical questioning of the government’s austerity strategy in public deliberation especially in the media. In the final section of the paper, we argue that our innovative approach to analysing and evaluating practical argumentation and deliberation is particularly effective in pursuing CDA’s objective to extend forms of critique familiar in critical social theory to discourse, drawing upon debates over the relationship of critique to rationality. We argue that the normative approach that we adopt is necessary for integrating analysis of argumentative discourse into critique, and that our approach is strongly consistent with the objectives of critical theory, at least as Habermas conceives them

A procedural approach to ethical critique in CDA

We argue for a procedural approach to ethical critique in CDA based upon the ‘argumentative turn’ in CDA advocated in our recent publications. This is not a matter of abandoning substantive critique, or abandoning the long-standing commitment of our version of CDA to critique of domination and of ideology, but of integrating them into a deliberative procedure for critical questioning, from an impartial and unbiased standpoint. The advantage of this position is that it enables us to accentuate ethical criticism and critique in CDA, rather than advocacy and partisanship. The task of critical discourse analysts is to subject argumentation, including their own argumentation, to systematic critical questioning in the spirit of open debate, with no ideological parti-pris

NEO-LIBERALISM – A DISCOURSE-ANALYTICAL PERSPECTIVE

O objetivo deste artigo é discutir, sob a perspectivaanalítico-discursiva, uma questão proeminente recente na Romênia: ‘oato de marcar’ – marcar produtos, mas também o presidente, o país.Vejo o ‘ato de marcar’ como um conceito e processo neoliberalquintessencial no sentido de que ele se afina com o que podemos chamarde objetivo utópico do neoliberalismo: todas as transações sociaisdevem ser transações comerciais. Isso implica que qualquer área davida social pode em princípio ser reconstituída em termos de entidades,processos, relações e identidades de mercado. Neste artigo, focalizoa eleição presidencial e o ato de marcar comercialmente Bãsescu paraa sua campanha presidencial como o candidato majoritário paraBucareste 2000-2004. Mostro como o ato de marcar concentra-seem identificar características centrais da pessoa a ser marcada, comotambém na avaliação rigorosa daquilo que os ‘clientes’ desejam. Focalizoum aspecto do estilo de Bãsescu e procuro ver como ele atravessafronteiras que convencionalmente separam o campo da política docampo do espetáculo popular e campo da propaganda comercial do campo da vida cotidiana, mediante um hibridismo que articula um amploespectro de recursos comunicativos (gêneros, discursos, estilos, tonsou ‘chaves’) para além daquele convencionalmente localizado napolítica romena. Concluo que o ato de marcar políticos e a recontextualização e operacionalização do ato político de marcar podemser vistos como parte de uma desideologização e personalização dapolítica que é associada com o ‘enquadre’ neoliberal, mas dentro deum estado político-econômico complexo e contraditório

Practical reasoning in political discourse: The UK government's response to the economic crisis in the 2008 Pre-Budget Report

This article focuses on practical reasoning in political discourse and argues for a better integration of argumentation theory with critical discourse analysis (CDA). Political discourse and its specific genres (for example, deliberation) primarily involve forms of practical reasoning, typically oriented towards finding solutions to problems and deciding on future courses of action. Practical reasoning is a form of inference from cognitive and motivational premises: from what we believe (about the situation or about means—end relations) and what we want or desire (our goals and values), leading to a normative judgement (and often a decision) concerning action. We offer an analysis of the main argument in the UK government’s 2008 Pre-Budget Report (HM Treasury, 2008) and suggest how a critical evaluation of the argument from the perspective of a normative theory of argumentation (particularly the informal logic developed by Douglas Walton) can provide the basis for an evaluation in terms of characteristic CDA concerns. We are advancing this analysis as a contribution to CDA, aimed at increasing the rigour and systematicity of its analyses of political discourse, and as a contribution to the normative concerns of critical social science

ANÁLISE CRÍTICA DO DISCURSO COMO RACIOCÍNIO DIALÉTICO: CRÍTICA, EXPLANAÇÃO E AÇÃO

Neste texto, resumo de que modo minha abordagem, a Análise Crítica do Discurso (ACD), modificou-se ao longo dos últimos 30 anos; e, então, apresento sua versão mais recente: a ACD como “raciocínio dialético”. Essa versão enfatiza a relação entre crítica, explanação e ação. Discuto como essa visão de ACD pode apoiar a ação política, com a finalidade de mudar a vida social para melhor, referindo-me ao “Kilburn Manifesto” por transcender o neoliberalismo. O foco no raciocínio dialético diferencia este texto de outro, de um Routledge Handbook anterior (FAIRCLOUGH, 2012)