Realism Discourse and Deconstruction [Paperback]

This collection reflects the growing interest realist critics have shown towards forms of discourse theory and deconstruction. The diverse range of contributions address such issues as the work of Derrida and deconstruction, discourse theory, Eurocentrism and poststructuralism. What unites all of the contributions is a sense that it is essential to provide a realist alternative to the hitherto dominance of social constructionism, hermeneutics and postmodernism, over many of the issues discussed.By developing a realist perspective the different authors attempt to embed discourse within the structured nature of the reality of the world. Realism can situate language, discourse and ideology within context specific, or 'causally efficacious' circumstances. Realism can help to uncover issues of power, representation, and subjectivity and how discursive and other social practices produce real effects. This can help us understand the manner in which (non-discursive) social structures are reproduced through various forms of ideology and discourse. And by knowing this, we can start to address questions concerning human emancipation and how the world is to be transformed.

1. Introduction: Realism, Discourse and Deconstruction  Part 1: Realism and Critical Discourse Analysis  2. Critical Realism and Semiosis  3. Critical Realism, Critical Discourse Analysis, Concrete Research  4. How Might the Inclusion of Discursive Approaches Enrich Critical Realist Analysis?: The Case of Environmentalism  Part 2: Voloshinov and Bakhtin  5. Will the Materialists in the Bakhtin Circle Please Stand Up?  6. Value and Contract Formation  Part 3: Realism and Post-Marxism  7. Lost in Transit: Reconceptualising the Real  8. Laclau and Mouffe and the Discursive Turn: Gains and the Losses  Part 4: Realil“*