Critical Discourse Analysis: A Sample Study of Extremism

Abstract

Critical discourse analysis (CDA), or the critical analysis of discourse, refers to a collection of socio-theoretical perspectives on discourse in society, encompassing a range of applications and approaches in discourse analysis. This chapter takes a broad view of CDA which highlights how there are different avenues into the critical analysis of discourse, and not always with the same understandings or objectives. With this purpose, this chapter begins by giving an overview of the theoretical rationale and dispositions which have often informed a critical approach to discourse and summarizes the principal issues at stake. Having outlined the main parameters of interest and debate, we select a particular model of CDA – the dialectical-relational approach – and using an adapted version of this methodology apply it to a selection of discourse data derived from the (inter)cultural contexts of Islamism, white supremicism, and multiculturalism.