REVISITING THE CONCEPT OF POWER IN CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

Abstract

In Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), power is understood not merely as a consciously exercised, top-down form of domination through which individuals occupying higher social positions exert influence over those of lower social status. Rather, it may also operate implicitly within the familiar common-sense world of everyday life, particularly in contexts where access to public discourse or opportunities for self-expression is unequally distributed. It is associated with ideologies, in which  power-knowledge relations govern what may and may not be said; with the control and maintenance of conversation and face; and through discourse communities, where members construct and affirm identities and group affiliations.