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The Most Common Question
A discourse is an institutionalized way of speaking that determines not only what we say and how we say it, but also what we do not say. Discourses provide a unified set of words, symbols, and metaphors that allow us to construct and communicate a coherent interpretation of reality. In addition to rhetoric, discourses determine what entities are constructed, which relationships are considered natural, and who has agency within the discourse. In so doing, discourse creates the pre-debate consensus that will affect how the rest of the debate will proceed.
Originating in the field of linguistics, the term discourse initially referred to whole units of speech (conversations) and the speech community in which these units were communicated. Michel Foucault (1972) transformed the concept of discourse from its linguistic formulation and applied it to the social sciences. He rigorously identified and typologized the structures of discourses, emphasizing how discourses affect everything in our society while remaining nearly unobservable. Additionally, he provided much of the analytical work necessary for discourse analysis.
For a more complete description of discourse, see What is an Ecosystem? which addresses the postmodern implications of discourse analysis by means of deconstructing the term ecosystem.
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©2005 Justin Johnson