There are several different research method in sociology. Discourse analysis is one of them. In this blog I will focus on discourse analysis I, which is different from discourse analysis II, and more specifically on the definition that Rose gives.
But it is crucial to understand first the concept of power as Foucault defines it. Foucault explain that power is wielded by people or groups by way of ‘episodic’ or ‘sovereign’ acts of domination or coercion, seeing it instead as dispersed and pervasive. ‘Power is everywhere’ and ‘comes from everywhere’ so in this sense is neither an agency nor a structure (Foucault 1998: 63). Instead it is a kind of ‘metapower’ or ‘regime of truth’ that pervades society, and which is in constant flux and negotiation. Foucault uses the term ‘power/knowledge’ to signify that power is constituted through accepted forms of knowledge, scientific understanding and ‘truth’. Indeed, he also highlight the fact that power is not limited to create the idea of how we understand things, but also creates knowledge. This is crucial because Rose assess that power define discourse, and discourse is characterised by knowledge and so explain that power define knowledge.
For Rose, discourse analysis is a qualitative research method which is use to explain how concept are socially created. She explain that “Discourse disciplines subjects into certain way of thinking and acting”. This method is focus on images and text and work through a “rhetorical organisation” divided in seven steps. First, it is important to study sources with a “virgin mind” and to abandon all prejudices. The second step explain that diving fully into the source is mandatory to study it effectively. Then the third step states that we have to look for key words or images and link them together. The purpose of a discourse is to persuade people that a proper knowledge is true. The fourth step explains the technique use to achieve it. The sixth step imply to individualise the contradictory and complex structure of the discourse. Finally, the last step propose to re read in detail the source to be sure not to miss anything or not to misunderstand a concept. Rose explain that a discourse analysis push to isolated key concepts from different sources and to compare them with each other.
Elliot(2001) provide a concrete example of application of discourse analysis. However, she does not use the method completely correctly while analysing Starbucks’marketing policy. Indeed , she did not necessarily follow the seven step discussed earlier. For example she analyse Starbucks’disco
urse in a subjective manner instead of starting the research without any prejudices. Indeed, she criticise what she called the “crossed cultural consumption paradigm” and which highlight the fact that the people leaving in developed country are giving local meaning to products that comes from the third world. This is linked very closely to Orientalism, which is a concept that theorise the way western people perceive Eastern country and their culture. For Elliot, Starbucks shape peoples’ identity and change their way of consuming coffee. Indeed, “coffee is a cultural text that become knowledge” as she said. She is analysing the different key element of each discourse provided by Starbucks. For example, by explaining to their customers where does the coffee beans come from, how is the beverage made and which different category of coffee exist, Starbucks is educating them, pushing them to a kind of elitism symbolised by their coffee. And that is why their rhetoric is not about selling a product like coffee, but more about a whole experience staged by the smell, colour and taste of the “third world”. Even though this vision is mostly wrong, biased by an Orientalist discourse presented by Edward Said, an overall impression of authenticity and originality is spreading out by this very efficient discourse. The authenticity is granted with the explanation and details of where does the coffee comes from, as well as the name and the size of the coffee that are in Italian or in French. The originality is expressed by the combination of all of the elements discussed just before and by the western gaze on Eastern country.
Bibliography :
– Method
Rose, G.
(2001). Visual methodologies: An introduction to researching with visual materials. London: Sage. (Chapter 6: Discourse Analysis I)
– Case Study and Methodological Application
Elliott, C.
(2001). “Consuming caffeine: The discourse of Starbucks and coffee” In: Consumption, Markets and Culture, 4(4), pp. 369-382.