Critical discourse analysis: Adding a political dimension to inquiry

Abstract

Within this chapter, which emphasizes a critical approach to discourse analysis, discourses are conceptualized as a form of social action that shapes how phenomena are understood within particular socio-historical contexts. In addition, I forward critical discourse analysis (CDA) as a methodological approach that can be taken up to add a genealogical dimension to work based in a transactional perspective. Through fostering a critical stance about taken-for-granted assumptions regarding what occupations are ideal, possible, and healthy for whom within particular contexts, CDA can contribute to work based in a transactional perspective by raising awareness of how possibilities for action are constructed within a particular situation and the ways in which such possibilities are constructed differentially for varying actors. I delineate key epistemological and methodological aspects of CDA, and use examples of CDA work relevant to the study of occupation to illustrate its potential contributions to occupational science. These illustrations, which emphasize how CDA work fosters a critical stance towards the way things are, show the vital contributions that can be made through such work that aims to open up spaces for different ways of researching, addressing, and enacting occupation.