Discourse Analysis I

In this blog post, i will explain the method of discourse analysis with the use of Rose (2001) theory, as well as relate it to a case study conducted by Elliott (2001).

Discourse analysis

Discourse analysis is an approach that helps to analyze written, vocal, or sign language use. The very first discoursive method derives from the works of Michel Focault (1926 – 1984). As written by Gillian Rose (2001) in her book Visual Methodologies:

„The notion of discourse is central to both Foucault’s theoretical arguments and to his methodology. Discourse has a quite specific meaning. It refers to groups of statements which structure the way a thing is thought, and the way we act on the basis of that thinking. In other words, discourse is a particular knowledge about the world which shapes how the world is understood and how things are done in it.” (Rose, 2001, p. 136)

Discourse analysis then, is a method of qualitative research aiming at the understanding of the production of meaning. It is a theoretical framework which explores how the socially constructed concepts and objects that constitute the social world are created and maintained. (Post, 2017)

Discourse analysis investigates the complex structuring of cultural conventions and raises questions about power relations, subject positions, interpretations, aesthetics, representations and ideological content. For the sake of this post, I will focus more on what Rose (2001) calls the „discourse analysis I” and her explanation of this method.

To understand this method well, we first need to go back to Focault and his ideas of power. According to Focault, the power is not simply imposed on one or another part of society, it is present everywhere. So are discourses. But, as Rose points out, some discourses are more dominant than others. As written by her in the introduction to discourse analysis:

„Discourse, he says, is powerful, but it is powerful in a particular way. It is powerful, says Foucault, because it is productive. Discourse disciplines subjects into certain ways of thinking and acting, but this is not simply repressive; it does not impose rules for thought and behavior on a pre-existing human agent. Instead, human subjects are produced through discourses. Our sense of our self is made through the operation of discourse.” (Rose, 2001, p. 137)

Discourse analysis I, as defined by Rose „tends to pay rather more attention to the notion of discourse as articulated through various kinds of visual images and verbal texts than it does to the practices entailed by specific discourses. (…) It is most concerned with discourse, discursive formations and their productivity.” (Rose, 2001, p. 140) This method is focused more on the social modality of the image site and the strategies of persuasion. It explores the establishment of specific accounts and views and how are they seen as truthful through „particular regimes of truth”. As pointed out by the author, „Discourse analysis is thus concerned too with the social production and effects of discourses.” (Rose, 2001, p. 141)

This method of analysis was used by Elliott, as an approach to a case study of Starbucks, which I will explain below and directly link with the work of Rose.

Discourse analysis: Case study of Starbucks by Elliott (2001)

As Elliott points out in the beginning of her text: „Clearly, coffee is big business. Yet it is also symbolic business, dealing with the production, packaging and consumption of meaning.” (Elliott, 2001, p. 371) In her article, she’s particularly interested in the „cultural text of coffee”, the meaning in the form of it and the discourses that surround it. (Elliott, 2001)

She brings back a little bit of history, tying back to the fact that coffee houses in previous centuries existed as forums for political debates, discussion and learning. Nowadays, they serve as spaces for socializing, not learning. The coffee houses, as pointed by Jack Post in the lecture about Discourse Analysis, are serving now as a third space – a place between home and work, that makes you feel comfortable but yet available for socializing or maybe even after-hours work.

As written by Elliott: „Arguably, coffee has transformed Western society through a kind of tempered coffeecolonialism, in which an imported commodity has been wholly embraced to become a fixture of Western consumer society and a marker of (Western) identity.” (Elliott, 2001, p. 371) Now, going for coffee has global implications. It is due to the fact that we consume coffee made out of beans imported from all over the world. They are physically removed from their place of origin, and repackaged, which creates a new discourse. Starbucks is very simplifying the geography of the places from which they import the coffee. The customer is not expected to find those places on the map. In some cases it is stated that it was imported from Kenya, Arabic countries and so on, but in some other (like two of their very special, original blends) the company does not want to make the countries of import known. As written by Elliott: „Rather than veiling the wearisome information on where and how coffee is produced, then, fair trade, organic and shade grown products foreground such considerations. Shoppers know that their coffee had bean there before it became a bean here.” (Elliott, 2001, p. 373) Following from that, Starbucks menu is also playing with geography, using words coming from Italian, French and English at the same time. Different blends are explained in very sensual and erotic words, to make them more appealing, more mysterious. The author links it with Orientalism – „Orientalism pivots on the notion of the”mysterious East” (Said 1993, p. x) and often portrays the foreign as primitive. Starbucks falls right in line with this. Its exotic coffee descriptors convey those very categories.” (Elliott, 2001, p. 377)

With this kind of analysis we can clearly see why it is a Discourse Analysis – the author investigates different language plays, visual representations and signs and different associations of coffee.

I hope my post was helpful with the idea of Discourse Analysis I, and that the explanation of the work of Elliott was clear enough. See you in my next post, bye!

Reference list:

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.

Lecture by Jack Post on the topic of Discourse Analysis, 24/04/2017

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *