'Texts' and 'signs': Criteria for choosing an analytical approach

Abstract

At least for two and a half decades the concepts 'narrative' and 'narrative analysis', 'discourse' and 'discourse analysis', 'text', 'context', 'signs' and 'semiotic analysis' have become extremely popular in humanities and social sciences but still have not received precise definitions and are interpreted quite arbitrary based on the conceptual and methodological preferences of the researcher, as well as the goals and objectives of the particular applied or fundamental sociological research project. The author proposes a way to structure the field of textual analysis in sociology that goes far beyond even the broadest interpretations of the content analysis method. Undoubtedly, we need to develop clear criteria for at least the correct naming of different formats of analytical work with textual data; otherwise, we run the risk of writing not scientific articles but rather 'original discursive collages' skillfully juggling an ambiguous and diverse terminology of textual analysis. Key words:.