ABSTRACT
The development of the approach is one of the most important problems in achieving an understanding of social processes, but it is never an end in itself. At the same time, there is also an important dialectic between the use of the approach and its further development. Norman Fairclough has some interesting comments on the limitations of the main social theoretic approaches - like those of Habermas and Foucault. While valuing these contributions he also bemoans their tendency to ‘remain theoretical’ in that ‘they are not operationalized in the analysis of particular instances of discourse’. In contrast, as he builds his own approach he makes frequent recourse to the critical analysis of actual instances of language-use. Fairclough’s response to the problems is to attempt to develop his analyses on the basis of ‘texts’ drawn from a range of ‘ready’ sources - other academic and professional writings and various forms of media.
