1N Introduction To Discourse Theory: Meaning, Politics & Subjectivity
David Howarth, Aletta Norval, University of Essex
9 - 20 July (two week course / 35 hrs)
Detailed Course Outline [PDF]
Course Content
This course introduces and develops the basic assumptions, concepts and logics of discourse theory by relating them to more mainstream approaches to social and political analysis. It also places discourse theory in relation to other interpretive and linguistic methods of social research. The basic argument of discourse theory is that meaning, subjectivity, and agency are constructed within relational structures that are shaped and re-shaped by political struggles. The course examines the key concepts of discourse, hegemony, antagonism, performativity and subjectivity with particular reference to the work of Ernesto Laclau, Chantal Mouffe, Antonio Gramsci, Michel Foucault, and Slavoj Zizek, as well as related thinkers such as J.L. Austin, Judith Butler, and Quentin Skinner. The approach builds upon the structuralist and poststructuralist traditions – e.g. Ferdinand Saussure, Jacques Derrida, and Jacques Rancière – and is developed by critically engaging with theorists like Anthony Giddens, Jürgen Habermas, Charles Taylor, Pierre Bourdieu, and others.
The course thus aims to show how discourse theory can deconstruct and rethink partial understandings of structure/agency, power/authority, identity/difference, subject/object, the social/political, and so forth. But it also provides the theoretical resources to understand and explain empirical phenomena such nationalism, sexism, and racism. Finally, the course draws out the political implications of discourse theory for our understandings of democracy, citizenship, and ethics.
Course Objectives
For participants to explore and acquire the basic assumptions, concepts and logics of poststructuralist discourse theory, and then to explore its implications for conducting social and political analysis.
Course Prerequisites
There are no specific course requirements, but it would be helpful for students to have some knowledge of Marxist theory and other basic social science theories.
Reading
Torfing, J. 1999. New Theories of Discourse: Laclau, Mouffe, and Zizek. Blackwell.
Glynos, J. and D. Howarth. 2007. Logics of Critical Explanation in Social and Political Theory. Routledge.
Howarth, D. 2000. Discourse. Open University Press.
Norval, A. 2007. Aversive Democracy. Cambridge.
Simon, R. 1982. Gramsci’s Political Thought. Lawrence and Wishart.