
UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST OF ENGLAND
A written analysis
of textual data
Foucauldian discourse analysis and
critique of a magazine article
Acknowledgement
I have drawn heavily from Carla Willig’s summary of Foucauldian Discourse Analysis and appreciate
her succinct appraisal of this complex field. Her text greatly assisted structuring this paper.
(Source: Willig, 2003, pp.106-124)
Student Number : 02976321
Award : MSc Qualitative Methods in Psychology (Level M)
Module : Textual Analysis (USP406SM)
Module Leader : Dr Hannah Frith
Date : 30th January 2004
Word Count : 3991
A written analysis of textual data.
Foucauldian discourse analysis and critique of a magazine article.
Introduction
Textual analytics became popular throughout the 1970s when post-structuralist/modern, feminist and
social constructionist ideas challenged the psy-complex and mainstream empirical psychology (Fox &
Prilleltensky, 1997; Parker & Spears, 1996); changing the emphasis from static individuals to
dynamic systems of interaction (Potter, 1996a). All discourse analyses focus specifically upon
language as a subject of investigation rather than plainly viewing it as a neutral communicative
resource (Cole, 1995; Fairclough, 1992; Wetherell, et al., 2001a, 2001b; Willig, 1991). Discourse
analytics adopt relativist ontologies but operate from different epistemological modes. Discourses do
not simply reflect reality in transparent ways, as realist understandings would claim, but actively
contribute to the construction of our knowledge and the social world (Seale, 1998, p.246; McGhee,
2001, p.149). Foucauldian Discourse Analysis (FDA) offers a particular critical approach to
researching psychological and social worlds by considering broader contexts, rigorously dissecting
discourses rather than imposing a single theoretical framework. In his quest to reveal power relations,
the French post-structuralist philosopher and historian Michel Foucault claimed discourses comprise
bodies of knowledge which systematically create and reproduce particular social institutions
(Holloway, 1997, p.48; Hall, 2000). Foucault wanted to reveal how certain discourses help sustain
networks of social meaning which regulate and control people in ways that appear natural (Seale,
1998, p.246). He popularised discourse analysis by exposing links between textual sources and
powerful social institutions, drawing concerns about domination and subordination associated with the
intellectual traditions of Marxism and Feminism (see appendix-iv).
Psychological discourse practices generally utilise talk from sources of interview data but FDA can
be performed wherever meaning exists, upon various types of communication and textual material
(Willig, 2001, p.108). The abridged version outlining six distinctive stages of analysis (appendix-iii) is
more appropriate for analysing the psychological nature of this textual analysis which constructs an
epiphany; rather than analysing an explicit account of an authoritative social institution as illustrated
by Foucault’s major accounts of madness, medicine, crime and sexuality (see bibliography; Ransom,
1997). Epiphanies are pivotal events which designate turning points in an individual’s life which, as
with this text, involve positive and negative impacts (Creswell, 1997, p. 47-51, 232). The text
comprises a static print-based article from a newspaper style magazine, independently published and
widely available for free across the south west of England (appendix-i). Typical outlets include
universities, libraries, council buildings, cafes, health food stores, complementary/holistic practices,
charities and an array of shops promoting alternative, green, ethical and organic trading. Aimed at all
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members of society, the text encourages personal growth and positivity alongside alternative lifestyles
and spiritual cleansing. As well as the written account, an iconographic illustration evokes the parallel
that thirty nine years represent a guidebook for those approaching their forties.
Analysis
The textual data was formatted for referencing six stages of Foucauldian Discourse Analysis
(appendix-ii, iii; Willig, 2001, pp.106-124). These chart some of the discursive resources used in a text
and identify various subject positions they contain, enabling further exploration of their implications
for subjectivity and practice. I have selected ‘approaching forty’ as the discursive object because this
captures the spirit of the text. Discursive objects are usually informed by a research question but this
project involved simply executing and critiquing a textual analytic. The author will be referred to by
her Christian name to respect and preserve the ownership of her personal experiences.
Stage 1: Discursive Constructions
This stage identifies various ways in which the discursive object is constructed in the text, via direct
lexical references and shared meanings. Catharine refers to ‘approaching forty’ as joining a ‘club’
(lines 4-5); as repositioning itself in the lifecourse, ‘forty is the new thirty’ (line 16); as something
involving personal growth, ‘rollercoaster ride of self-discovery’ (lines 10-12, 29-31, 42-45); as
inducing bodily changes, ‘pre-menopausal’ and ‘surge of sexiness’ (lines 17-22, 24, 47-48); as
overcoming unfulfilling and less frequent relationships, ‘crumbs of love’, ‘Mr Unavailable’ and ‘six
months to a year between men’ (lines 12, 27-29, 31-37, 48) and as entering ‘middle age’ (lines 55-56).
These references establish ‘approaching forty’ as a major milestone in life which brings unwanted
bodily changes alongside personal growth. The second half of the text constructs ‘approaching forty’
as a progression toward acquiring a healthier relationship (lines 39-53).
Stage 2: Discourses
This stage places the various discursive constructions of ‘approaching forty’ within wider discourses.
A discursive object can be constructed in diverse and contradictory ways according to different
purposes within the same text. Catharine’s experience draws upon several discourses (e.g. midlife,
independence, alternative lifestyle, motherhood, heterosexual, female, biosocial, romance, wisdom)
but I wish to focus upon ageing and relationship discourses as these symbolise primary themes.
The ageing discourse constructs a development toward yearning for a healthy romantic partnership
with commitment but does not lie comfortably with settling down into motherhood (lines 26-27).
Thus, I interpret Catharine’s personal growth as something relating more to independence and
selfhood, as becoming aware of her own needs and adjustment to growing older. This challenges
dominant discourses about heterosexual female roles by refusing to join the race toward biological
reproduction. The ageing discourse explains several physical changes to Catharine’s body and whilst
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these appear problematic or negative the concurrent emotional and intellectual maturations associated
with ageing are welcomed (lines 10-14, 17-24).
The relationship discourse constructs an evolution from immature teenage encounters, through
unfulfilling partnerships in her twenties, less frequent sexual adventures with men in her thirties to a
newly found romance (lines 6-10, 34-39). Catharine liberates herself from ‘crumbs of love’ and
embarks upon ‘feasting’ with, and upon, her current partner (lines 28-29, 48-49). By constructing the
discursive object with certain sources from relationship discourse Catharine creates a particular
account of becoming forty. This version embraces entering midlife as incorporating a blend of middleaged activities with the excitement of youthfulness (lines 48-55), supporting forty to be constructed as
the new thirty.
The discursive object invokes concerns about ‘midlife crises’ and the imperative of ‘settling down’.
Whilst neither are explicitly mentioned or explored within the text, they are significant aspects of the
relationship discourse especially associated with being forty. By summoning the relationship
discourse, associations with settling down invoke a whole string of implications connected with its
everyday practice (e.g. romance, commitment, childbearing, wealth). However, Catharine’s particular
version of settling down opposes normative values of parenthood and perhaps more realistically
involve an independent lifestyle. Thus she is questioning her own ideas about settling down.
Stage 3: Action Orientation
This stage requires closer scrutiny of the discursive contexts to facilitate a clearer understanding of
what the various constructions of the discursive object can possibly accomplish within the text.
The text starts by constructing ‘approaching forty’ as joining a club with ‘an increasingly ageing
membership’ which I interpret as an attempt to captivate the reader’s attention because it identifies a
change in wider social discourse (lines 1-5). More importantly, access to this metaphoric construction
of entering the forties is potentially available to us all, and we should take heed because maybe we can
learn some lessons and apply tham to our own lives. During the beginning of the text less meaningful
teenage encounters involving ‘snogs with boys I didn’t know I could say no to’ (lines 6-7) lay the
foundation to which her later wisdom can be compared to. This is further endorsed by the period
during her twenties which lacks focus and achievement (lines 8-10). In fact Catharine constructs her
thirties as being the ‘most fun’ since this era involved the personal growth that should have occurred
earlier (lines 6, 9-10).
Catharine’s explorations of psychological and spiritual growth throughout her thirties far outweighs
concerns about physical decline which affects us all. She draws upon the menopause discourse to
endorse psychological changes in ‘confidence’ and ‘sexiness’ which are direct consequences of her
hormonal shift (lines 21-24). This is a far more positive portrayal of a woman approaching forty than
someone being ‘past it’ (lines 14-16, 46). Importantly, I interpret the being past it discourse as
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encompassing less energy for life (i.e. clubbing, going out, sexual adventures) and approaching less
opportunities for reproduction with associated fertility and childbirth complications.
At the middle of the text Catharine appears to take control of her life by moving on from her
dissatisfaction with ‘crumbs of love’ and what appears to have been an unsuccessful partnership with
‘Mr Unavailable’ (lines 27-32). Since this article was written in the context of promoting the ‘human
potential to change’ and ‘personal responsibility’ (appendix-i) she clearly constructs an optimistic
view of approaching midlife dilemmas. This is rectified by the ability to accept what one has in life
and not regret underachievement in order to ‘enjoy the moment’ (line 30); expertly communicated by
the serenity prayer (appendix-iv; Open-mind, 2004).
Catharine’s use of relationship discourse in the second half of the text allows her to ascribe
responsibility for a healthier relationship to personal growth, whilst emphasising this requires
completing difficult journeys through one’s psyche (lines 10-12). The opinion that to achieve a healthy
relationship social actors must first love themselves in order to love another is prominent in
contemporary talk, personal growth, spiritual teachings and associated self help groups like the twelve
step fellowships (Whitfield, 1991).
Stage 4: Positionings
Having previously located the discursive object within wider discourses, this stage identifies subject
positions offered by various constructions of ‘approaching forty’ which deal with primary repertoires
about ageing, relationships and personal growth (see appendix-i about the context of the text).
Catharine’s ageing discourse contains the subject position of the psychologically and emotionally
maturing adult, whilst her relationship discourse positions women between needing to make some
difficult and often conflicting choices in life. Catharine’s treatment of relationship discourse may be a
response to her own quandary about being a woman who craves a meaningful relationship with a man
but rejects having children (lines 26-27). Hence the subject positions offered by these constructions
involve someone enduring much personal and spiritual growth to form a more comfortable sense of
self which consequently offers the potential to form more wholesome relationships.
Catharine approaches midlife with veracity (lines 55-56) and aims to put her wisdom and maturity
into practice but there is clear conflict between her discourses of independence and romance, largely
due to her lack of incentive for motherhood. This could position her as selfishly pursuing only what
she wants from life without devoting any time to motherhood. However, I interpret Catharine as
becoming someone who can now make informed decisions about the type of relationship she desires
and that she is delaying (or denying) motherhood until she finds the right man. This is someone who is
enjoying a new found love via maturity based upon personal growth. However, I feel she has less
choice about the lifestyle she once desired with ‘Mr Right-on’ (lines 32-36) and has endured
loneliness associated with being single in order to reach a better selfhood; adjusting to a different way
of being, informed by spiritual laws (line 30).
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Stage 5: Practice
This stage examines the relationship between discourse and practice by considering the possibilities or
limitations for action, via constructing particular accounts of the world and positioning subjects within
these discourses in specific ways.
Constructions of approaching forty as completing a ‘rollercoaster ride of self-discovery’ implicates
the practice of personal growth as being closely interlinked with needing to take control of one’s
circumstances. Thus, to implement successful changes to one’s life to achieve a better future, one must
undergo a journey of self awareness via making sense of one’s past. Concerning developing healthier
relationships and settling down, simply enjoying the friendship and non-sexual experiences during the
start of a new romance means that one can exert more choice about whether someone else is an
appropriate sexual partner (lines 42-45, 49-53). This self-discovery discourse means that Catharine can
exercise more objective decisions when approaching romantic encounters, and life in general.
Overall, I interpret the various constructions of ‘approaching forty’ as being able to embrace the
ageing process with dignity and positivity rather than surrendering to psychological and physical
decline. However, this requires acceptance of some of the features of ageing such as ‘chin sprouts’
(lines 19,22) which are particularly unattractive for women. Hence the effect of this printed article
means that if Catharine can do it, so to can the reader because she presents herself as an example of
personal growth. Thus the text simultaneously constructs and maintains personal development.
Stage 6: Subjectivity
This stage traces the outcomes of adopting various subject positions by drawing links between
discursive constructions and personal experiences. It is therefore highly interpretive of the relationship
between discourse and subjectivity.
Constructions about entering midlife as joining a ‘club’ implicate subject positions for shared
experiences about ageing and forming fruitful, commited relationships. The fact that Catharine
mentions an increasingly ageing membership also lessens the impact of growing old and feeling left
out (i.e. life’s like a car park during the thirties because all the best spaces are taken; a metaphore
expressing the unavailability of more superior partners). In this text, rather than residing to being ‘past
it’, adopting the subject position of personal growth offers compensation against the ageing process,
and ultimately death, since ‘these days you’re not past it till you’re dead’ (line 16). Unlike many
people who fear middle age, Catharine relishes joining the forties club, if her thirties’ experiences are
anything to go by (lines 55-56) and is possibly attempting to transcend physical mortality.
The significance of personal growth is paramount within this text. I interpret Catharine as
attempting to discover a more comfortable existence, although this is still implicates a romantic
partnership as evidenced by her preoccupation with a relationship discourse. People like Catharine are
often constructed as offering more virtuous qualities because they have devoted more time to their
own development and sorting themselves out. Conversly, people deeply engrosed in marriages or
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permanent relationships have not had the same opportunity for personal growth and can be considered
less developed and lacking strength of selfhood. Correspondingly, Catharine adopting the subject
position of being single may function to retrospectively legitimise abstinence from relationships
during phases of personal growth. This is generally considered preferable in order to facilitate an
individual’s focus upon their journey through self discovery. Being single via the lack of appropriate
men may also imply there is nothing lacking with her character in order to promote a positive image of
herself. Thus, she has not missed anything through the lack of male partners and enjoying a vacuous
lifestyle (lines 34-37). Catharine’s self-discovery era involved challenging times but is an investment
in herself for a better future which is likely to entail a healthier romantic partnership.
Critique of the analysis
What kind of knowledge does a foucauldian discourse analysis aim to produce?
I have specifically chosen FDA for its evaluation of selfhood, subjectivity and power; engaging the
critical strand of social constructionist psychology (Burr, 2003; Nightingale & Cromby, 1999) as
opposed the discursive strand which focuses on how language functions in social interaction (McGhee,
2001, p.145). In the foucauldian context, discourse refers to systems of expert languages which
establish distinct styles of communication, thus granting membership and imparting authority to those
possessing that particular knowledge. Although Catharine does not explicity employ technologised
discourse she does imbue the rhetoric of personal development to validate her account as a model of
achievement (Fairclough, 2001, p.231). Discourse analysts are not so much concerned with
establishing ‘truths’ but understanding how texts are used to present different versions of reality, and
accordingly subscribe to relativism. FDA therefore has a firm social constructionist framework
(Potter, 1996b). However, Parker (1998) adopts critical realism via Lacanian psychoanalytic ideas, and
Potter & Wetherell’s (1987) version of discourse analysis focuses more upon the content of texts.
As with much interpretivist qualitative research, generalisability is not justified because various
interpretations may be drawn from different readings of the same text. More so, readers cannot simply
adopt someone else’s material-semiotic position (Pujol & Montenegro, 1999, p.93). The meanings I
present do not pre-exist but are created via the interactive process with various material and symbolic
positions (see reflexive statement, appendix-iv). Most discourse analysis is anti-realist, rejecting
reality exists independently of the research context or any representational concepts, be they mental or
physical. FDA demonstrates a critical analysis of discourse by considering wider societal contexts as
opposed the interpersonal context tackled by Conversation Analysis (CA) and discursive psychology.
Although the text presented here is not constructed through interpersonal communication, drawing a
comparison between FDA and CA evokes the respective macro-micro debate in discursive
psychology. Various authors describe these discursive practices in different ways but they are strictly
analytics rather than prescribing models of behaviour from which hypotheses may directly be tested.
However, qualitative researchers specifically use FDA to understand how concepts are constructed, in
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order to inform further research or refute existing knowledge. The analysis of Catharine’s text clearly
displaces the perception of where being forty is located within the lifecourse.
Whilst six stages of analysis are presented in qualitative textbooks as distinct phases (Smith, 2003,
pp.171-183; Willig, 2001, pp.106-124) I found them to be highly interwoven, especially distinguishing
between discursive constructions (stage 1) and wider discourses (stage 2). This is because each
constructs the other and their decomposition requires time-consuming systematic procedures,
analogous with grounded-theory and inductive thematic analysis. However, it should be distinguished
that traditional qualitative thematic analysis adopts a realist epistemology which endeavours to
inductively reflect reality (Hayes, 2000, pp.173-179; Strauss & Corbin, 1998).
What understanding can be drawn from a foucauldian discourse analysis?
Crucially, all discourse analytics treat language as active. More importantly, FDA recognises people
create both hybridisations and numerous versions of reality by selecting various elements from a range
of possible discourses to suit different social contexts, including attempts to achieve agency. All forms
of discourse analysis attend to the context that data are produced so these contexts may be
incorporated into the analysis. FDA provides a survey of the way discourses construct social and
psychological realities which make available certain ways-of-seeing and certain ways-of-being. FDA
has the strong distinguishing feature of allowing for contrasting positionings of subjectivity.
Variations within the same discourse reveal contradictions and uncertainties which enable analysts to
consider different processes at work. This is demonstrated in my analysis of Catharine’s problematic
subject positioning in a relationship discourse since she craves the romance and commitment of a male
companion but firmly rejects the usual implications of childbearing. This explains the power
discourses can exert upon subjectivities, exemplifying Western society’s history for replicating the
nuclear family. Subject positions therefore locate discursive sites from which to speak and act rather
than merely specifying a particular role to be acted out. Catharine’s quandary represents shifting
contemporary discourses about women’s roles in society and parenthood in general (Dyson, 1993). In
FDA, subject positions are not linear but tree-like. Understanding these discursive positionings is vital
because they function in diverse ways for social actors to experience subjectivity and transform
established discourses, such as conceptual traditions (e.g. marriage, sexuality) as well as organised
establishments (e.g. education, law).
The approach of FDA considerably differs to CA which only deals with rule-based systems
regarding naturally occurring talk or discursive psychology which examines the purposive expressions
of language (Harré & Stearns, 1995; Holloway, 1997, p.48). FDA focuses upon the way discursive
objects and subjects are constructed by the use of discourse and upon the subjective positioning of
social actors within their use of discourse. This is paramount for foucaudlian researchers since certain
practices become legitimate forms of behaviour within particular discourses, which in-turn replicate
the discourses they create. In my analysis, the accommodation of Catharine’s distinctive positions of
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the discursive object are incongruous within the same ageing discourse, i.e. negative physical effects
occur alongside positive personal growth. Interestingly, CA acknowledges silences as achieving
certain goals in particular contexts and FDA recognises absences in discourse as purposive. This is not
so relevant here because Catharine presents a reflexive identity which includes her shortcomings, as
well as those of past partners, in fitting with the context of the text which promotes personal
responsibility (appendix-i).
What epistemological register does foucauldian discourse analysis focus on?
Textual analytics draw from different intellectual traditions (FDA - Post-structuralist, Marxist,
Feminist; CA - Ethnomethodology, linguistics). The sources of data which FDA and CA draw upon
markedly differ. Text for FDA becomes a heuristic device to explore data that can exist independently
of the researcher. Similarly, CA primarily deals with naturally occurring talk but uses highly
descriptive and complex transcriptions (Silverman, 2001, pp.159-192). FDA offers greater flexibility
of application to any symbolic system whilst CA analyses the mechanics of interaction at both talk and
non-verbal levels. Unlike FDA, CA has been criticised for being reductionistic because of its minute
fragmentation of social interaction, being termed ‘molecular sociology’ (Lynch, 1993, cited in Denzin
& Lincoln, 2000, p.492). This formalism of CA is very unlike the social constructionism of FDA.
Consequently, CA is criticised as losing the significance of wider social networks by ignoring cultural
styles of talk and noticeably reverses conventional understandings of human agency.
FDA and CA are implemented for different research questions involving particular epistemological
challenges. FDA explores “what characterises the social worlds people inhabit and what are the
implications for practice” and is thus a version of critical discourse analysis associated with the
legitimation of power. Foucault expressly conceived social institutions operate in ways that appear
natural, thus veiling the power of discourses which generally function to constrain discursive objects
and subjectivities. FDA concerns a predominantly ‘top-down’ approach to analysing discourse whilst
CA is more ‘bottom-up’ through giving primacy to everyday methods that people employ to manage
stake via interpersonal communications. However, social actors are concurrently implicated as
manipulators of discourse to achieve human agency in line with social constructionist perspectives.
More crucially, since we are all users of discourse the findings of FDA are more accessible to the
population as opposed the rhetorical boundaries of scientific disciplines. CA and discursive
psychology explore “how people use language to manage stake in social interaction”. This parallels
with the simultaneous active construction of discourse in FDA as articulated by Wittgenstein’s
‘language games’ which relate language with not only what it represents but as already being a ‘form
of life’ (Wittgenstein, 1953, cited in Forrester, 1996, p.45). Whilst this identifies the reflexive
maintenance and construction of discourse, FDA generally claims that discourses limit what can be
said and done by people (Willig, 2001, p.122).
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The kind of knowledge generated by FDA and all discourse analysis exemplifies the quests in the
qualitative research paradigm. These analytics acknowledge the interpretivist tradition by aiming to
identify ways in which particular versions of reality are constructed through language and other textual
sources, as opposed trying to discover the ‘true nature’ of reality or inert psychological and social
phenomena. Textual analytics go beyond the exploratory level to offer thick descriptions. The
knowledge yielded by FDA focuses upon relationships between discourse and institutional sites which
often challenges mainstream knowledge. It identifies how people construct objects and subjects
without necessarily accepting priori understandings, whilst incorporating historical contexts.
Limitations of Foucauldian Discourse Analysis
A major problem for FDA is to what extent subjectivity can be conceived upon the basis of discourse
alone (Burr, 2003, pp.104-125). This clearly emerges with Catharine’s ‘surge of sexiness’ which I
interpret as potentially originating from a her biological clock or the socially constructed discourse
about fulfilling womanhood. This queries the reliability of subject positions and what exactly is
involved with constructing personal identities, apart from discourse alone. Consequently the
relationship between discourse and material reality is problematic for FDA, and critics question what
exists beyond discourse? (Burr, 2003, pp.81-103; Parker & Burman, 1993). Fairclough (1992, p.60)
argues for a dialectic vision of FDA since discursive practice depends upon how it interacts with a
preconstituted reality, resonating with Peircean semiotics (Forrester, 1996, p.139). The dilemma about
these questions lie within ontological social constructionist arguments that discourses are constantly
undergoing a state of flux. Hence, this conceptualisation of the world presents difficulties to
researchers of the positivist tradition because there is no finite recognition of essentialist qualities.
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Ritchie, J. & Lewis, J. (eds) (2003) Qualitative research practice: a guide for social scientist students and
researchers. London: Sage.
Robson, C. (1993) Real world research: a resource for social scientists and practitioner-researchers. Oxford:
Blackwell.
Smith, J., Harre, R. & Van Langenhove, L. (eds) (1995) Rethinking methods in psychology. London: Sage.
Wittgenstein, M. (1958) Power/knowledge. Sussex: Harvester.
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Appendix - i
Facsimile of the original article and the magazine’s philosophy
(Source: Stott, 2003, The 39 steps. The Spark, Issue 35, p.52. Bristol: Blue Sax Publishing Ltd)
The Spark magazine is a free quarterly
magazine about positive change for the
West of England especially the Bristol, Bath
and Glastonbury area. It's packed full of
information about personal, social and
global change. We've been publishing since
1993.
Our Philosophy:
● We are fundamentally optimistic and
enthusiastic about change and human
potential to change.
● Our aim is to help you get more out of life.
● There are many paths to personal &
global transformation.
● We are part of society - we want to get
involved as a magazine and as individual
writers.
● We believe in personal responsibility.
● We encourage individuals to work
towards change - themselves, the
community, the world but we don't have one
particular answer or the solution.
● We believe in the fundamental right of
freedom of speech.
● We write about solutions to problems.
● We cover local issues, but have an active
interest in national and global issues and
believe passionately about our
responsibilities towards the earth and life.
● Money is not an end, it's a tool to make
things possible.
● We are curious about life and are
committed to life long learning.
● We believe in the right of people to be
who they want to be and respect their
desire to get there, providing it does not
harm others.
● We believe in running the magazine in an
ethical way.
● We don't subscribe to the trend of
journalistic cynicism.
● We are not a party political magazine but
we offer a range of possibilities and change.
● We give some ads away - check out our
tithe policy.
● If we get something wrong in the
magazine we are honest about it, we want
our readers to trust us.
● We see a purpose in having an approach
that's informal and chatty, we don't think
any one is going to read what we write if
we're too earnest.
● We try to make each issue better than the
last.
● We want to ecourage the use of the local
economy.
● We are an independent Bristol-based
company.
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http://www.thespark.co.uk/philosophy.htm
(downloaded 23/01/04)
Appendix - ii
Data prepared with highlighted discursive constructions
(Source: Stott, 2003, The 39 steps. The Spark, Issue 35, p.52. Bristol: Blue Sax Publishing Ltd)
1
Rose and I are in a club with an increasingly ageing membership. In 1995 I was
2
bemoaning the fact that I was about to reach the unbelievable age of 31. “Join the club,”
3
she said, and three days later, much against my will, I did. And so on down the decade,
4
until this year we both joined the ‘39 Club’, and received the complimentary chin
5
tweezers given to every new member. Being in my thirties has been the most fun I’ve
6
had. Far more so than my teenage years of black moods, footless tights and snogs with
7
boys I didn’t know I could say no to. Way more fun than my twenties, trying to develop
8
a thin veneer of maturity and to work for a living while being almost constantly out of
9
my head and wondering why I couldn’t stop. I’ve spent my thirties doing the growing
10
up I should have done before. It’s been a nine year rollercoaster ride of self-discovery.
11
The highs and lows have levelled out as I’ve tackled low self-worth, deep childhood
12
pain and finely-honed the skill of committing to an unavailable male. I received my
13
PhD in the last subject long ago, and have turned down the full professorship. But, oh,
14
39! I’ve been dreading it, remembering that 29 was full of deep foreboding about being
15
thirty and therefore past it. Turns out I wasn’t, and I won’t be at forty either. Because,
16
and thank you God, forty is the new thirty, and these days you’re not past it till you’re
17
dead. The other great thing about approaching forty is that I’m becoming what is known
18
in the trade as pre-menopausal. This has its negative side: nipples pointing down instead
19
of up, chin sprouts, stretch marks that have nothing to do with childbirth and everything
20
to do with age and see-sawing weight, and shop assistants calling me ‘Madam’. But
21
there is an upside to this hormonal shift. As my oestrogen dips and the eggs shrivel
22
inside me, my testosterone levels are correspondingly higher (hence the chin sprouts)
23
and therefore low-self worth disappears and confidence reigns supreme. Along with this
24
comes a surge of sexiness as my body shouts at me, “hey, you, this is your last chance
25
for motherhood, get out there, get laid and have that 43 hour labour ending in a
26
caesarean”. Oh I love it, because although men are terribly appealing to me, babies
27
aren’t and I don’t have to become a desperate woman. So I said goodbye and thanks for
28
all the lonesome Saturday nights to Mr Unavailable. After a lifetime of eking out an
29
existence on crumbs of love and attention, enough was enough. It was time to do that
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30
thing so recommended by spiritual laws: let go absolutely of any expectations and enjoy
31
the moment. I became single in name as well as reality (it’s okay folks, he never reads
32
The Spark) and waited for something with substance. I gave up hoping for Mr Right-on
33
with six organic acres in the Cotswolds, and set about being old, single and living in the
34
city. It was scary, swapping almost nothing for absolutely nothing, but I’d get through
35
with fluffy romping novels, going out with my friends and bulk-buys from the electrical
36
department of Ann Summers. I settled in for the recommended six months to a year
37
between men. Three weeks later I had brief moment[s] of picturing the ex’s face, but
38
having no idea what his name was. Result! I grabbed another novel, and went to the
39
beach with my mates. What I was not prepared for was to fall for one of them as we
40
walked along the sand arguing over the morals of exhibiting plasticised dead bodies in
41
the name of medicine. I found myself doing underwater handstands and jumping fifteen
42
feet into deep cold rock pools in an effort to impress him, and it worked. This was what
43
the books recommend - getting to know someone platonically until one day they
44
become irresistible, rather than sleeping with someone you’ve never met before and
45
then gluing yourself to them. I always thought that was sound advice, but sadly not
46
applicable to me because I was almost past it. And certainly not with this friend because
47
he was seven years younger than me and I assumed he preferred breasts that don’t need
48
a Wonderbra to pass the pencil test. So goodbye crumbs and hello feasting, literally.
49
We’ve stuffed our faces on the beach, had several sofa picnics, and now we’re working
50
our way round the city’s set menus, starting with strawberry soup in Bell’s Diner. We
51
have pissed off our mutual fiends with our disinterest in them. And I’ve discovered
52
teenage infatuation without the puberty-ridden angst - snogging on canal boats, holding
53
hands, dates, movies, laughing, midnight bat fishing at Crewe’s Hole (no bats harmed I
54
promise), and best of all, no parents to say “what time do you call this?” as I stumble
55
home at 5am... Thirty-nine is my best ever birthday. If this is middle age, I say bring it
56
on. Goodbye thirties, and hello roaring forties.
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Appendix - iii
Procedures for Foucauldian Discourse Analysis
(Source: Willig, 2001, pp.109-118)
Stage 1: Discursive Constructions
The first stage of analysis is concerned with the ways in which discursive objects are
constructed. Which discursive object we focus on depends on our research question. For
example, if we are interested in how people talk about ‘love’ and with what consequences, our
discursive object would be ‘love’. The first stage of analysis involves the identification of the
different ways in which the discursive object is constructed in the text. This requires that we
highlight all instances of reference to the discursive object. As mentioned in the previous
chapter, it is important that we do not simply look for keywords. Both implicit and explicit
references need to be included. Our search for constructions of the discursive object is guided
by shared meaning rather than lexical comparability. The fact that a text does not contain a
direct reference to the discursive object can tell us a lot about the way in which the object is
constructed. For example, someone may talk about a relative’s terminal illness without
directly naming it. Here, references to ‘it’, ‘this awful thing’ or ‘the condition’ construct the
discursive object (i.e. terminal illness) as something unspeakable and perhaps also
unknowable.
Stage 2: Discourses
Having identified all sections of text that contribute to the construction of the discursive
object, we focus on the differences between constructions. What appears to be one and the
same discursive object can be constructed in very different ways. The second stage of analysis
aims to locate the various discursive constructions of the object within wider discourses. For
example, within the context of an interview about her experience of her husband’s prostate
cancer, a woman may draw on a biomedical discourse when she talks about the process of
diagnosis and treatment, a psychological discourse when she explains why she thinks her
husband developed the illness in the first place, and a romantic discourse when she describes
how she and her husband find the strength to fight the illness together. Thus, the husband’s
illness is constructed as a biochemical disease process, as the somatic manifestation of
psychological traits, and as the enemy in a battle between good (the loving couple) and evil
(separation through death) within the same text.
Stage 3: Action Orientation
The third stage of analysis involves a closer examination of the discursive contexts within
which the different constructions of the object are being deployed. What is gained from
constructing the object in this particular way at this particular point within the text? What is
its function and how does it relate to other constructions produced in the surrounding text?
These questions are concerned with what has been referred to as the action orientation of talk
and text in the previous chapter. To return to our example of a wife talking about her
husband’s cancer, it may be that her use of biomedical discourse allows her to attribute
responsibility for diagnosis and treatment to medical professionals and to emphasize that her
husband is being taken good care of. Her use of romantic discourse may have been produced
in response to a question about her own role in her husband’s recovery after surgery and may
have served to emphasize that she is, in fact, contributing significantly to his recovery.
Finally, psychological discourse may have been used to account for her husband’s cancer in
order to disclaim responsibility for sharing in a carcinogenic lifestyle (e.g. ‘I told him to slow
down and take better care of himself but he wouldn’t listen’). A focus on action orientation
allows us to gain a clearer understanding of what the various constructions of the discursive
object are capable of achieving within the text.
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Stage 4: Positionings
Having identified the various constructions of the discursive object within the text, and having
located them within wider discourses, we now take a closer look at the subject positions
which they offer. A subject position within a discourse identifies ‘a location for persons
within the structure of rights and duties for those who use that repertoire’ (Davies and Harre
1999: 35). In other words, discourses construct subjects as well as objects and, as a result,
make available positions within networks of meaning that speakers can take up (as well as
place others within). For example, Hollway’s (1989) ‘discourse of male sexual drive’ contains
the subject position of the instinct-driven male sexual predator, whilst the Have/Hold
Discourse positions both men and women as highly socialized moral actors. Subject positions
are different from roles in that they offer discursive locations from which to speak and act
rather than prescribing a particular part to be acted out. In addition, roles can be played
without subjective identification, whereas taking up a subject position has direct implications
for subjectivity (see Stage 6 below).
Stage 5: Practice
This stage is concerned with the relationship between discourse and practice. It requires a
systematic exploration of the ways in which discursive constructions and the subject positions
contained within them open up or close down opportunities for action. By constructing
particular versions of the world, and by positioning subjects within them in particular ways,
discourses limit what can be said and done. Furthermore, non-verbal practices can, and do,
form part of discourses.
For example, the practice of unprotected sex has been found to be bound up with a marital
discourse that constructs marriage and its equivalent, the ‘longterm relationship’, as
incompatible with the use of condoms (Willig 1995). Thus, certain practices become
legitimate forms of behaviour from within particular discourses. Such practices, in turn,
reproduce the discourses which legitimate them. In this way, speaking and doing support one
another in the construction of subjects and objects. Stage 5 of the analysis of discourse maps
the possibilities for action contained within the discursive constructions identified in the text.
Stage 6: Subjectivity
The final stage in the analysis explores the relationship between discourse and subjectivity.
Discourses make available certain ways-of-seeing the world and certain ways-of-being in the
world. They construct social as well as psychological realities. Discursive positioning plays
an important role in this process. As Davies and Harre (1999: 35) stated “Once having taken
up a particular position as one’s own, a person inevitably sees the world from the vantage
point of that position and in terms of the particular images, metaphors, storylines and
concepts which are made relevant within the particular discursive practice in which they are
positioned.” This stage in the analysis traces the consequences of taking up various subject
positions for the participants’ subjective experience. Having asked questions about what can
be said and done from within different discourses (Stage 5), we are now concerned with what
can be felt, thought and experienced from within various subject positions. For example, it
may be that positioning himself within a discourse of male sexual drive allows a man not only
to publicly disclaim responsibility for an act of sexual aggression, but to actually feel less
guilty about it as well.
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Appendix - iv
The Serenity Prayer
(Source: Open-mind, 2004; originally conceived in 1932 by Dr. Reinhold Niebuhr of the Union Theological Society)
God grant me the serenity…
To accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
and Wisdom to know the difference.
Marxist and Feminist Subjectivity
(Source: Parker, 2003, pp.4-5)
Subjectivity is theorised here, then, as both entirely conditioned by the social and as always
necessarily agentic. It is one of the conditions of capitalism, for example, that people should actively
participate in economic relationships that are socially and personally destructive. When someone sells
their labour power, they do so because they would otherwise starve, but they do so in a creative act of
production, the very thing that the buyer of their time finds so valuable and which yields a surplus
value for further investment and employment. In the process, the worker is also turned into a
commodity to be bought and sold along with the fruits of their labour, and a sense of things being
separate and exchangeable accords with that social reality. Marxism, then, draws attention to the
commodification of relationships as a characteristic of modern culture, and two further aspects of the
work of culture are also highlighted. The first is that the dead weight of the past sets the boundaries for
how for someone entangled in a culture can reflect upon their position, and the second is that the
different relationships that are set up between workers and employers, and between workers and
workers, reproduce contradictions in which critical reflection, a critical distance can be developed.
Feminism also matches the Marxist view of subjectivity as an ensemble of social relations with an
insistence that 'the personal is political', that is, that each most private activity is woven into shared
collective relations of power that structure gender. In research, then, the supposedly neutral and
objective activity of finding out 'facts' is itself saturated with subjective investments, and the fantasy
that a correct view of the world can be obtained through the exercise of independent inquiry is an
expression of masculine concerns with separation, order and control. Feminism in sociology (e.g.,
Stanley and Wise, 1983) and then in psychology (e.g., Wilkinson, 1988) has brought this issue to the
fore in considerations of women's experience and through reflexive analysis in qualitative research,
and feminist discourse analysis has tempered objectivist Marxism with a reminder that the most
objective account is always from a particular position (Hollway, 1989).
My Identity and Reflexive Statement
As an MSc student of qualitative methods in psychology I have recently developed an interest for
social constructionist ideas. Amid an academic culture of feminism I intend to disrupt gender
boundaries by performing an analysis upon a woman’s text to demonstrate that I am sensitive to both
gender orientations. Character wise, I have many female qualities and am interested in female issues
because I see these focusing upon everyday life which is more important to me than global issues. I
am an avid listener of ‘Woman’s Hour’ (BBC Radio 4, 92.4-94.6 fm) which attracts men as a third of
its audience. However, whilst embracing the critical mode of feminism I am resistant of the gender
mode because it does that which it set out to change, i.e. operating from one gender epistemological
register. I have achieved much personal growth and strongly identify with Catharine’s experiences.
Some of the lessons she mentions are incorporated in my own life, particularly about forming healthier
relationships and living more simply. Psychologically, I have attended psychotherapeutic counselling,
group therapy and self-help groups; having dealt with personal issues around parental death, codependancy and a dysfunctional family. Spiritually, I have attended Buddhist meditations and talks
and was interested in rastafarianism for many years. These promote healthy lifestyles and
vegetarianism.
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