What is discourse analysis?
As Sandy, Sam, Andreas and Toks already explained discourse analysis in an exceptionally good way and also found great example-studies I find it very difficult to come up with a new explanation!
Therefore I want to focus more on the study I found in pubmed.
In my view discourse analysis is the observation of one’s language, behaviour, facial expression and gesture, which leads to information about one’s social life. As explained by Shaw et Bailey, there are different techniques in discourse analysis, such as micro level studies that concentrate especially on language in use.
Rayner et al. did a discourse analysis of medical literature on the use of synthetic oestrogen to reduce female height. They found three linguistic repertoires emerging from the analysis:
- The institutional authority of medicine that determined the ‘abnormality’ of tall stature in women
- Clinical knowledge and experience in the diagnosis of medical risks associated with tall stature in women
- The use of hormones as cosmetic therapy to (re)construct femininity in tall girls.
They concluded that over a time span of 50 years doctors persuaded themselves and parents of tall girls that tall stature required therapeutic intervention, although no evidence of psychological harm associated with tall stature in women had been found and no long-term studies showing either effectiveness or benefit of hormone treatment had been made.
Rayner JA, Pyett P et Astbury J., The medicalisation of 'tall' girls: A discourse analysis of medical literature on the use of synthetic oestrogen to reduce female height. Social Science & Medicine 71 (2010) 1076-1083
