ABSTRACT

Discourse is entangled in power relations since ‘subjects’ are constructed according to certain interests. These include the interests of the state in maintaining power and social order; private interests in stimulating consumption; and those of dominant classes, cultures and groups in the maintenance of privilege. Forms of discourse and representation construct desires, joys, fears and identities. They construct oppositions between the normal and the deviant. Truth-effects are produced in representation, the ‘real’ becomes a social construction.