Discursive formations are held together by regularity, not uniformity, of statements

Evidence

3. The statements within a discursive formation need not all be the same. But the relationships and differences between them must be regular and systematic, not random. Foucault calls this a “system of dispersion”: “Whenever one can describe, between a number of statements, such a system of dispersion, whenever … one can define a regularity … [then] we will say … that we are dealing with a discursive formation” (1972, 38; emphasis in original). — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 573

Categorization

Category: Definitional Content

• DEFINE: Introduces ‘system of dispersion’ — the analytic criterion for recognizing a discourse in scattered, varied statements.

Related

• A discursive formation is defined by regular differences among statements, not uniformity. (similarity 0.97)