Discourse constructs subject positions that speakers must occupy regardless of belief
Evidence
- A discourse can be produced by many individuals in different institutional settings (e.g., families, prisons, hospitals, and asylums). Its integrity or “coherence” does not depend on whether it issues from one place or from a single speaker or “subject.” Nevertheless, every discourse constructs positions from which alone it makes sense. Anyone deploying a discourse must position themselves as if they were the subject of the discourse. For example, we may not ourselves believe in the natural superiority of the West. But if we use the discourse of “the West and the Rest,” we will necessarily find ourselves speaking from a position that holds that the West is a superior civilization. — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 571
Categorization
Category: Definitional Content
- DEFINE: The subject-position mechanism: discourses dictate the stance a speaker occupies even against their own beliefs.
- XREF: Explains how an analyst can deploy Orientalist/Islamophobic discourse to critique it yet still speak from its implied position — a methodological issue for downstream field readings.
Related
- The West-and-Rest discourse became the dominant Western way of representing itself and others (similarity 0.85)
- Discourse is a way of representing knowledge that constructs a topic while limiting alternatives (similarity 0.84)
- The subject is positioned by and within discourse, not the source of it (similarity 0.84)
- The West and the Rest is constituted as a discourse, not a geography (similarity 0.82)
- Linguistics decentered identity by showing subjects are positioned in pre-existing discourse (similarity 0.81)
- The West and the Rest is a constructed, contingent discourse (similarity 0.81)
- Discourse produces knowledge that shapes perceptions and enacts power (similarity 0.81)
- Discourse collapses the thought-action divide and shapes how the West behaved toward others (similarity 0.80)
- Discourse constrains what can be thought about the Other (similarity 0.80)
- Discourse is a system through which knowledge becomes power over the known. (similarity 0.80)
- Discourses persist beyond their origins and carry unexamined assumptions forward. (similarity 0.79)
- Binary representation is the destructive mechanism of this discourse (similarity 0.79)
- Becoming a subject requires prior subjection to discourse (similarity 0.79)
- Discourse constrains but does not fully determine what can be said (similarity 0.78)
Broader Connections
- Linguistics decentered identity by showing subjects are positioned in pre-existing discourse
#corroborates(0.95) — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 184