Categorization and explanation of risk: A discourse analytical perspective

Abstract

Categorization—generally understood as definition of situations (including events, actions, roles/identities, knowledge claims etc) in everyday and professional/institutional settings—is a meaning-making activity, deeply embodied in human experience and understanding. Language and discourse play a significant part in how we categorize events and things in discipline-specific ways. Contributors to this Special Issue of Health, Risk & Society approach risk categorization and its explanatory status in a range of healthcare settings—genetics, cancer, HIV/AIDS, hormone replacement therapy—from a discourse analytical perspective (broadly defined as language and interaction in context-specific environments). Research practice—what we choose to study, how we select our data sites and analytic frameworks and how we formulate our findings—constitutes categorization work par excellence and so remains a candidate project in reflexivity.