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Child protection investigations: Discourse analysis and the management of incommensurability
Author(s) -
Lee Nick
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
journal of community and applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.042
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1099-1298
pISSN - 1052-9284
DOI - 10.1002/casp.2450040407
Subject(s) - agency (philosophy) , discursive psychology , discourse analysis , construct (python library) , sociology , gaze , state (computer science) , legislation , representation (politics) , civil discourse , frame (networking) , frame analysis , epistemology , social representation , social psychology , social science , psychology , political science , content analysis , politics , linguistics , law , telecommunications , computer science , psychoanalysis , programming language , philosophy , algorithm
This paper asks whether discourse analytic approaches in social psychology have yet produced methodologies adequate to the investigation of institutional ‘gaze’. Institutional language has been explored to the extent that state agencies construct members of the public by speaking about them in particular ways. This has often provided insight into the co‐existence and competition of incommensurable discourses. However, studies of representation in the sense of speaking for have been notably absent from social psychology. It is argued that this aspect of discourse is a vital component in the study of contemporary governmental multi‐agency strategy in the area of child protection, where recent legislation and policy aims at the coordination of incommensurable discourses. A methodology for studying this strategy is outlined through an account of the actor network approach in science studies, accounts of the State under the post‐modern condition, and analyses of sections of interviews with social workers.