Discourse fuses language and action, dissolving any ideology-movement split
Evidence
Since Wittgenstein, we know that language games comprise both linguistic exchanges and actions in which they are embedded, and speech-act theory has put on a new footing the study of the discursive sequences constituting social institutionalized life. It is in that sense that Chantal Mouffe and I have defined discourses as structured totalities articulating both linguistic and non-linguistic elements. From this point of view, the distinction between a movement and its ideology is not only hopeless, but also irrelevant – what matters is the determination of the discursive sequences through which a social force or movement carries out its overall political performance. — Ernesto Laclau, On Populist Reason, 45
Categorization
- DEFINE: Defines ‘discourse’ as structured totalities of linguistic and non-linguistic elements, the core postulate of Laclau’s theory.
- XREF: connects to: Ideological emptiness in populism is itself a performative act with social rationality — Ernesto Laclau, On Populist Reason, 50; Discourse collapses the thought-action divide and shapes how the West behaved toward others — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2: Identity…, 569; Words and political talk themselves constitute subversive action (+5 more)
Broader Connections
- Discourse collapses the thought-action divide and shapes how the West behaved toward others
#corroborates(0.95) — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 569 - Words and political talk themselves constitute subversive action
#expands(0.92) - Discourse operates as a strategic field of force-relations, not mere representation
#corroborates(0.90) — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 363 - Discourse produces knowledge that shapes perceptions and enacts power
#corroborates(0.88) — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 687 - Ideology operates through language itself, not merely through false beliefs
#corroborates(0.85) — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man, 698 - Rhetoric precedes and enables political action between states
#corroborates(0.80) — Edward W. Said, Covering Islam, 79