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Discourse Theory: Ways forward for theory development and research practice
Edited by Benjamin De Cleen, Jana Goyvaerts, Nico Carpentier, Jason Glynos, Yannis Stavrakakis and Ilija Tomanić Trivundža
[Journal of Language and Politics 20:1] 2021
► pp. 62–78

Logics, discourse theory and methods

Advances, challenges and ways forward

ORCID logo | University of Essex
ORCID logo | University of Essex
| University of Essex
| University of Essex
ORCID logo | University of Essex
| University of Essex

Logics of Critical Explanation proposed a methodological approach that could render the insights of Poststructuralist Discourse Theory (PDT) and post-Marxist political theory more conducive to critical empirical research. It also offered a language with which to counter positivist tendencies to colonize the space of methods and research strategies, showing how PDT could facilitate both explanatory and critical endeavours. Since its publication in 2007, a number of studies have applied the logics framework to empirical cases, while critically engaging with its methodological and theoretical arguments. The main purpose of this article is to evaluate some of these developments, and to set out some future challenges faced by this research programme.

Keywords: logics, post-Marxist political theory, discourse theory, poststructuralist discourse analysis, methodology, fantasmatic logics, political logics, social logics, articulation, retroduction
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction: Negotiating the methodological deficit
  • 2.The logics approach
  • 3.Developments and challenges
  • 4.Discourse and logics, language and materiality
  • 5.Articulating adjacent idioms
  • 6.The ‘application problem’ revisited: Judgement, retroduction and paradigms
  • 7.Research techniques in gathering and analysing data
    • 7.1Topic modelling
    • 7.2Q methodology
  • 8.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
Published online: 14 December 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/jlp.20048.gly
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De Cleen, Benjamin, Jana Goyvaerts, Nico Carpentier, Jason Glynos & Yannis Stavrakakis
2021. Moving discourse theory forward. Journal of Language and Politics 20:1 ► pp. 22 ff. DOI logo

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