Social Discourse and its Functions
Interdisciplinary musings on the interplay of innovation, social narratives and development
Human social systems are forming and formed by social discourses. Social discourse constructs our reality, relations, and the changes one can bring; because through discourse, we are not only communicating but doing. Therefore, social discourse, undeniably, is pivotal to the field of Development because “[h]ow change is happening challenges the possibility of designing actions, forming decisions, enabling commitments and allocating resources” (The Future of Development, p. 7). In addition, “[t]he well-being and prosperity of countries, regions, cities, villages, social groups, and people, in general, depends on their system engaging effectively in the process of designing policies and interventions, of problem solving” (p. 7).
From the perspective of social discourse and human social systems, a discourse has a number of functions including exchanging and (re)shaping information. Accordingly, reconstructing and reframing social discourse needs to be a priority and precedes Development to accelerate changes and hence the effects of Development programs. Furthermore, changes and development equally take place within the sphere of social discourse, which enables, shapes, and sometimes dictates Development, and hence, changes. It “is about working “with” systems and “in” them to induce transformation outcomes that, grounded in places, cultures, and people, are inclusive, sustainable, and effective” (p. 8).
On the other hand, social discourse needs to be updated, improved, and changed to allow Development programs to be effective. This process of improving social discourse can be viewed as a subtle process of teaching and learning. That is, we are learning about the society through examining their discourse and we are changing societies by enabling the renewal of their social narratives. At the same time, the success of Development programs requires the accommodation of a given social discourse. A Development program that does not accommodate and reflect a specific social discourse can be challenged, rejected, and more often than not it can fail. This circular relation between social discourse and Development programs shows the complexity of social discourse as an inseparable part of any human social system and development. Approaching social changes from this perspective can reduce uncertainty and increase and enhance the effectiveness of Development programs.
Because Development is a multi-dimensional process, it requires an interdisciplinary discourse that addresses the multi-dimensional aspects of various human social systems such as, but not limited to, identities, culture, economy, religion, and politics. However, one of the issues of Development complexity is “the microscopic and incoherent fragmentation of efforts, the distributed mediocrity and diluted value of the capabilities, resources, and solutions” (p. 13). Therefore, Development efforts need first to develop and create a social discourse that can address such concerns and bridge these gaps.
Undeniably, the field of Development recognizes that in order to “cause shifts [and] trans-formations,” “new system identities” need to be generated (p. 11). One of the tools for (re)creating, (re)shaping, and (re)framing identities is a social discourse that is capable of creating meaning, building (new and relevant) social narratives, and offering meaningful representations of various and relevant aspects of a given society that facilitate understanding, learning, and designing (future) actions and programs.
In more detail, a successful social discourse needs to primarily address the social identity of people and secondarily, sometimes, the individual identity. Hence, working within a given social discourse can guarantee to a great extent the success of Development programs as it eliminates misunderstanding and misinterpretation and mirrors one’s social identity.
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It is worth noting that in creating a social discourse, there are two different social roles that should be taken into consideration, namely, sender and receiver, as discourse by default is dialogic. Hence, a successful and engaging social discourse represents and appeals to the receiver. Such a social discourse can teach receivers more about themselves, facilitate the comprehension of their (social) experience, and allow the sender to reshape receivers’ understanding of themselves. This discourse can be described as positive. Martin (2004, p. 184) introduced positive discourse analysis as an irrealis approach that facilitates how change happens through remaking and renovating social aspects such as relations, identity, and experience. Such a progressive irrealis discourse approach focuses on promising discourses that facilitate and encourage desired positive social change. This approach presumes the existence of such a discourse, as Macgilchrist (2007) explains, that contests undesired discourses by reframing issues and creating an encounter discourse. I do argue here that this positive discourse also needs to address and interact with the receiver within the social systems successfully by not challenging their values, identities, representations and understanding of various social concepts. The meaning that is created by any discourse is a result of the structures of communication including, but not limited to, lexical choices, implicatures, presuppositions, entailments.
In conclusion, from the perspective of social discourse, the various aspects of the diagram below are (re)shaped through discourse. Discourse contextualises intent, action, experience, intelligence, and impact. In other words, a successful and effective social discourse can promote and facilitate changes, experience, identity, learning, etc. Hence, a positive social discourse is needed to achieve Development goals by encouraging the receiver to engage in such a discourse and minimise the chances of rejecting its propositions.
Further Reading
- The Future of Development: “Make Happen” with the Portfolios of Options. (2021).
- Macgilchrist, Felicitas. (2007). Positive Discourse Analysis: Contesting Dominant Discourses by Reframing the Issues. CADAAD Journal, 1(1), pp. 74–94.
- Martin, James R. (2004). Positive Discourse Analysis: Solidarity and Change. Revista Canaria de Estudios Ingleses, 49, pp. 179–200.
Written by Ahlam Alharbi.
Ahlam Alharbi is an Associate Professor of Linguistics at the Department of English of the Imam Abdul Rahman bin Faisal University. Her major research interest is discourse analysis in general and critical discourse analysis in particular.
Want to know more? Check out: Controversy and Discourse: The Arts of Transforming Negativity Through Transitivity and Towards a performative theory of solidarity discourse.
