Critical discourse analysis

This chapter outlines the reasons why discourse analysis is an important dimension of critical social work practice. It brings to the forefront the very significant new contributions that sociologists focusing on the politics of recognition and redistribution, such as Nancy Fraser and Axel Honneth, can make in casting a "new politics of critical social work". In making this case, it begins by discussing some key developments in discourse theory and analysis within the social sciences and how they relate to the normative concerns of social work, specifically social justice and its multiple interpretations. Developing an appropriate analytical framework for social work practice can be difficult because there are conflicting and overlapping definitions of discourse formulated from various theoretical and disciplinary standpoints (Fairclough, 1992; Macdonnell, 1991). There are many different accounts of discourse that have developed in the social sciences, which is partly a result of recent interest in discourse theory among a wide range of academic disciplines. Whether language has assumed more of a central focus as a result of increased academic interest, or whether there has been an increase in the social importance of language in the operations of power is open to question...

Review : "The Culture of Curating and the Curating of Culture(s)", Paul O’Neill (2012)

Paul O'Neill's book, 'The Culture of Curating and the Curating of Culture(s)provides a concise overview of how curating has changed art and how art has changed curating. The book is divided into three sections, each dealing with a key transitional development: (1) the historical development of curatorial discourse; (2) the influence of the Biennial phenomenon and, finally, (3) how art and curating have converged since the 1990s. This review discusses the publication as a significant contribution to the development of a curatorial history and discourse.

Conceptualising Women's Working Lives : Moving the Boundaries of Discourse

"Theoretical work on the career development of women has travelled a journey from critique to creation. Early work responded to and criticised a literature that focused on theorising male roles in a workplace that was conceptualised as providing vertical career paths primarily for middle class males. More recently theorists are creating new constructions and frameworks to enable a more holistic understanding of career, applicable to both women and men. These constructions include broadening the discussion from women’s careers to women’s working lives. This is the fifth book in the Sense Publishers Career Development Series. It features the vibrant work of contributors from around the world writing in the field of women’s working lives. It emphasises the need to explore theoretical connections and understandings in order to facilitate a more holistic and inclusive understanding of women’s working lives. The writers in the current volume acknowledge the changing roles of women, in both public and private spheres. Women’s roles in paid work are changing both in their nature and type of engagement. In addition, with an ageing population, women’s roles in care work are increasingly being extended from child care to aged care. This book provides a history of theorising about women's careers, in addition to presenting a focus on current empirical and theoretical work which contributes to understandings of women's working lives. It’s contributions both map the current discourse and challenge future work to extend the boundaries of that discourse."--publisher website

Sensationalizing death? Graphic disaster images in the tabloid and broadsheet press

Debates over the extent of graphic imagery of death in newspapers often suffer from generalized assertions that are based on inadequate or incomplete empirical evidence. Newspapers are believed to display death in very graphic ways, with particularly the tabloid press assumedly leading a race to the bottom. This article reports the results of a study of tabloid and broadsheet images of death from the 2010 Haiti earthquake in eight Western European and North American countries. It shows that, far from omnipresent, graphic images of death are relatively rare. While tabloids overall display a larger percentage of graphic images, this was not the case everywhere, with particularly the UK, Canada and the US displaying strong similarities between tabloids and broadsheets. In Austria, Germany, Norway and Switzerland, on the other hand, there were distinct differences between the two types. The article argues that different extents of tabloidization may account for these differences.

Digital Literacy and the Spaces of Academic Discourse

Digital literacy poses a particular challenge to the research-led university. Although these universities are often at the forefront of introducing digital literacy initiatives—such as e-learning platforms, technological infrastructure, and digital repositories—these applications of digital literacy tend to be more instrumental or functional than critical or creative. Certainly, this clash of cultures between the instrumental/functional and the critical/analytical is at the heart of debates over the uses of digital literacy in higher education. However, this simple equation of political forces with instrumentality and the corresponding equation of the university with a tradition of reflective thought that brings criticism to bear on instrumentality elide the fact that this conflict is more deeply rooted within the academy. This essay argues that, in fact, much of the resistance to critical uses of digital literacy comes from within the institution of the university itself. That is, the university is bound up in a scriptural economy that prioritises the printed word and that reinforces its power by way of a normative, political, and spatialised academic discourse. It is this print-based scriptural economy—in which this essay must acknowledge its own complicity—that a critical approach to digital literacy threatens to disrupt or lay bare.

An examination of how the military, the conservative press and ministerialist politicians generated support within Queensland for the war in South Africa in 1899 and 1900

This thesis examines the role of conservative newspaper proprietors and editors to generate support for war against the Boers in South Africa. The thesis utilises Rune Ottosen's theoretical model concerning newspapers creating a pro-war mentality, and S.E. Finer's theory on the influences of the military on civilian Government. The pivotal supportive roles of Governor Lamington and Premiers Dickson and Philp and the oppositional role of Premier Dawson are also examined.

Are we there yet?

The political and bureaucratic discourse surrounding non-profit sector reform is centred on streamlining the regulatory framework. Phrases such as 'one-stop shop','reducing red tape' and 'duplicative, burdensome and unclear requirements' fill press releases, government reports and discussion papers. In this chapter, I examine quantitative measures of the current regulatory compliance burden facing non-profit organisations in Australia as a benchmark for measuring progress over the coming years. I focus on regulatory compliance estimates for four key stages of non-profit enterprise activity non-profit enterprise start-up and registrations; fundraising;grant paperwork; and regulation proportionate to the size of the non-profit enterprise.

Relationship between expectation management and client retention in online Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

Background Engaging clients from the outset of psychotherapy is important for therapeutic success. However, there is little research evaluating therapists’ initial attempts to engage clients. This article reports retrospective analysis of data from a trial of online Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) for depression. Qualitative and quantitative methods were used to evaluate how therapists manage clients’ expectations at the outset of therapy and its relationship with client retention in the therapeutic intervention. Aims To develop a system to codify expectation management in initial sessions of online CBT and evaluate its relationship with retention. Method Initial qualitative research using conversation analysis identified three different communication practices used by therapists at the start of first sessions: no expectation management, some expectation management, and comprehensive expectation management. These findings were developed into a coding scheme that enabled substantial inter-rater agreement (weighted Kappa = 0.78; 95% CI: 0.52 to 0.94) and was applied to all trial data. Results Adjusting for a range of client variables, primary analysis of data from 147 clients found comprehensive expectation management was associated with clients remaining in therapy for 1.4 sessions longer than those who received no expectation management (95% CI: -0.2 to 3.0). This finding was supported by a sensitivity analysis including an additional 21 clients (1.6 sessions, 95% CI: 0.2 to 3.1). Conclusions Using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, this study suggests a relationship between expectation management and client retention in online CBT for depression, which has implications for professional practice. A larger prospective study would enable a more precise estimate of retention.

Cultural economy planning in creative cities : discourse and practice

While a growing body of research analyses the functional mechanisms of the cultural or creative economy, there has been little attention devoted to understanding how local governments translate this work into policy. Moreover, research in this vein focuses predominately on Richard Florida's creative class thesis rather than considering the wider body of work that may influence policy. This article seeks to develop a deeper understanding of how municipalities conceptualize and plan for the cultural economy through the lens of two cities held up as model ‘creative cities’ — Austin, Texas and Toronto, Ontario. The work pays particular attention to how the cities adopt and adapt leading theories, strategies and discourses of the cultural economy. While policy documents indicate that the cities embrace the creative city model, in practice agencies tend to adapt conventional economic development strategies for cultural economy activity and appropriate the language of the creative city for multiple purposes.