Abstract
Discourse analysis can be defined as an “approach to the analysis of language that looks at patterns of language across texts as well as the social and cultural contexts in which the texts occur” (Paltridge, 2006, p. 2). These patterns of language mean that discourse is firmly lodged within a view of our world as socially constructed. Discourse analysis, therefore, seeks to argue that an external reality cannot be held as authoritative and universal but is instead a series of representations. The representations have been abundant over the ages with such examples including among others “God, Reason, Humanity, Nature, and the Iron Laws of Capitalism” (Torfing, 2005, p. 13). These categorisations enable our understanding of our ‘reality’, which is contingent on social, cultural and historical contexts.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes
Joenniemi, P. (2002) ‘Finland in the New Europe: A Herderian or Hegelian project?’ in Hansen, L. and Wasver, O. (eds) European Integration and National Identity: The Challenge of the Nordic States (New York: Routledge), pp. 182–213.
Attainal-Sachir (My Small Motherland) (1966) 4th grade textbook. Published in Jordan by the Ministry of Education, pp. 4 and 7, in Nasser, R. M. (2004) Palestinian Identity in Jordan and Israel: The Necessary ‘Other’ in the Making of a Nation (New York: Routledge).
Wendt, A. (1992) ‘Anarchy is what states make of it: the social construction of power politics’, International Organisation, 46, 2, 391–425.
Hansen, L. (2002) ‘Sustaining sovereignty: The Danish approach to Europe’ in Hansen, L. and Wasver, O. (eds) European Integration and National Identity: The Challenge of the Nordic States (New York: Routledge), pp. 50–87.
Hansen L. (2006) Security as Practice: Discourse Analysis and the Bosnian War (London and New York: Routledge).
Todorov, T. (1984) The Conquest of America: The Question of the Other (London: HarperCollins).
Neumann, I. and Welsh, J. (1991) ‘The Other in European Self-definition: An addendum to the literature on international society’, Review of International Studies, 17, 327–348.
Neumann, I. (1999) Uses of the Other: The East in European Identity Formation (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press), pp. 163–174.
For example, Hitchens, P. (2008) The Abolition of Britain: From Winston Churchill to Princess Diana (London: Continuum International)
Marr, A. (2000) The Day Britain Died (London: Profile Books)
Nairn, T. (1981) The Break-up of Britain: Crisis and Neo-nationalism, 1965–1975 (London: Verso)
Redwood, J. (1999) The Death of Britain (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2014 Justin Gibbins
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Gibbins, J. (2014). Theory and Method. In: Britain, Europe and National Identity. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137376343_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137376343_2
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-47767-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-37634-3
eBook Packages: Palgrave Political Science CollectionPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)