ABSTRACT
The dilemma Gee brings up in this question is of upmost importance for scholars interested in the study of discourse and discourse analysis. If the goal is to understand the relationship between text and society, why complicate matters by adding politics into the mix? One could even ask what politics has to do with discourse anyway. Gee (2011) responds to these questions by arguing that “language-in-use is always part and parcel of, and partially constitutive of, specific social practices, and that social practices always have implications for inherently political things like status, solidarity, the distribution of social goods, and power” (p. 28). Thus, he continues, “a full discourse analysis must discuss such matters and must, in that sense, be critical” (Gee, 2011, p. 29).
