Gillian Rose tackles the concept of discourse and discourse analysis in her book Visual Methodologies: An introduction to researching with visual materials that was published in 2001. She characterizes discourse in general as “groups of statements which structure the way a thing is thought, and the way we act on the basis of that thinking” (Rose, 2001, p. 136). Rose further distinguishes discourse analysis I as the method that examines discourse and how it is “articulated through various kinds of visual images and verbal texts” (Rose, 2001, p. 140). Her notion of discourse analysis I is heavily centered on the earlier work of Foucault who was interested in the power of representation and language and subsequently the power of discourse. Both Foucault and Rose argue that discourse produces subjects meaning that the use of language in a certain social setting determines so called “subject positions” (Rose, 2001, p. 136). Rose gives the example of medical discourse and the subject positions of doctors, nurses and patients that are created through the use of specific medical terminology and language that constitute the medical discourse. Additionally, Rose mentions that discourse can be powerful in the sense that it can “discipline […] subjects into certain ways of thinking and acting” (Rose, 2001, p. 137). Consequently, discourse has the power to influence people and their behavior in significant ways. Another important aspect of discourse and discourse analysis is that of intertextuality. Intertextuality refers to the fact that a discourse relies on a variety of different sources – images, texts, videos for example – to establish itself in society.
Rose then gives a set of guidelines to follow when applying discourse analysis to a certain topic. One should look for sources with “fresh eyes” meaning that all preconceived notions about the topic at hand should be forgotten in order to allow for better immersion in the source material (Rose, 2001, p. 150). Furthermore, the person carrying out discourse analysis should identify key themes across multiple sources as these are most important in a discourse. Only by acknowledging key similarities and differences between sources on the same topic, can one hope to identify the discourse on said topic. Therefore it is equally as important to pay attention to the invisible information as it is to examine the visible information (Rose, 2001, p. 150). Lastly, one should question whether the proposed claims of truth made in these sources are legitimate. Rose prompts the analyst to ask themselves “how a particular discourse works to persuade [and] how does it produce its effects of truth?” (Rose, 2001, p. 154).
In the same year, Charlene Elliott published an article on the discourse of Starbucks coffee. In this article she applies the method of discourse analysis in order to examine how Starbucks persuades its customers to buy their coffee and other products. Throughout the article, Elliott’s method complies with Rose’s notion of intertextuality in a discourse. Elliott bases her research on several different sources such as marketing slogans, coffee names and also work that is not directly associated with Starbucks or Coffee like a book on Orientalism.
Elliott also applies the guideline about identifying key themes set by Rose. She mentions the key theme of Orientalism as being prominent in her research on Starbucks. According to Elliott, Starbucks tries to capitalize on the western idea of the oriental as something mysterious and foreign. Therefore, Starbucks choose descriptions for their different types of coffee that are in line with this concept, descriptions such as “magical”, “intriguing”, “fleeting”, “elusive”, “nearly indescribable”, “wild” and “earthy” (Elliott, 2001, pp. 377-378). This part of Elliott’s analysis is in line with Rose’s notion of the power of language and how it can construct a certain discourse around a product.
In addition to that, Elliott identifies that Starbucks has made attempts to combine notions of globalism and localism in an effort to increase its sales. The author mentions how “World geography has been remapped to sell a cup of coffee” (Elliott, 2001, p. 379) by associating certain countries with certain types of coffee. At the same time however Starbucks represents itself as a local business that has distanced coffee beans from their origins and relocated them in an American chain (Elliott, 2001, p. 379).
References
Rose, G. (2001). Visual Methodologies: An introduction to researching with visual materials. London: Sage.
Elliott, C. (2001). “Consuming caffeine: The discourse of Starbucks and coffee” In:
Consumption, Markets and Culture, 4(4), pp. 369-382