Analysing discourse as a causal mechanism

Banta, Benjamin R.

doi:10.1177/1354066111428970

Cited by 35 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 96 publications

(109 reference statements)

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“…A visual’s designated functions, supposed audiences and uses (C) are prescribed by the social field. The social field delineates the broader sociocultural and political context in which the discursive practice of forced labour regulation unfolds (Banta, 2013: 393). That is why it prescribes the specific social activity the text has to perform (Young, 2011: 631).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Regulation by visibility: New forms of global social governance

Drubel

2019

Global Social Policy

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Nation states, networks and international organisations provide huge amounts of quantified information on all fields of international politics. This is done in an effort to regulate them. Besides the increase of numbers, recently, pictures emerge as visual practices of regulations. Parts of the political effort of the International Labour Organization (ILO) to abolish forced labour build a valuable example. The ILO publishes both estimates on forced labour and Global Reports. In addition, illustrated narrations on how a person is trapped in forced labour are provided at its website. Hence, the decent work discourse on regulating forced labour as a Core Labour Standard (CLS) no longer exclusively draws on texts, but increasingly includes image representations. Thus, the article asks how quantitative knowledge on forced labour is produced and visualised as a mode of regulative governance. In order to understand the content of the ILO’s discursive regulative governance, its strategic alignment and to infer on its possible strengths or weaknesses, discursive and pictographic practices are made accessible.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Regulation by visibility: New forms of global social governance

Drubel

2019

Global Social Policy

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“…In contrast, following Milja Kurki, I argue that scientific realism (or, in her view, critical realism) ‘provides a framework for “constitutive” IR theorists to re-engage with causal analysis’ (Kurki, 2007: 361). Kurki adds that ‘the norms, rules, and discourses that many constructivists, feminists and poststructuralists inquire into are, within the critical realist perspective, distinctly causal, although not causal in the positivist “when A, then B” sense’ (Kurki, 2007: 367; see also Patomaki and Wight, 2000; and see Banta, 2012, on methods of discourse analysis consistent with critical realism).…”

Section: Addressing Post-positivist Critiques Of Causal Explanation Of Social Phenomenamentioning

confidence: 99%

The mother of all isms: Causal mechanisms and structured pluralism in International Relations theory

Bennett

2013

European Journal of International Relations

123

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Theorizing under the rubric of paradigmatic ‘isms’ has made important conceptual contributions to International Relations, but the organization of the subfield around these isms is based on flawed readings of the philosophy of science and has run its course. A promising alternative is to build on the philosophical foundation of scientific realism and orient International Relations theorizing around the idea of explanation via reference to hypothesized causal mechanisms. Yet in order to transform the practice of International Relations theorizing and research, calls for ‘analytic eclecticism’ must not only demonstrate that scientific realism is a defensible epistemology amenable to diverse methods; they must provide a structured and memorable framework for diverse and cumulative theorizing and research, field-wide discourse, and compelling pedagogy. I Introduce a ‘taxonomy of theories about causal mechanisms’ as a structured pluralist framework for encompassing the theories about mechanisms of power, institutions, and legitimacy that have been providing the explanatory content of the isms all along. This framework encourages middle-range or typological theorizing about combinations of causal mechanisms and their operation in recurrent contexts, and it offers a means of reinvigorating the dialogue between International Relations, the other subfields of political science, and the rest of the social sciences.

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“…To investigate how government manages regulation risk, an analytical approach is adopted combining critical discourse analysis with the argumentation approach in policy analysis (Fairclough 2005(Fairclough , 2010Fairclough and Fairclough 2011;Fairclough 2016). This approach acknowledges the potent influence of discourse on social events but situates it within a critical realist-informed conception of the extra-discursive, material realm (Fairclough 2005;Sims-Schouten et al 2007;Elder-Vass 2011;Banta 2012). The social world is a stratified open system comprising distinct, though related, strata of emergent causal powers, events/actions and experience (Bhaskar 1978(Bhaskar , 1979.…”

Section: Methods and Data Sourcesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Regulatory reform as risk management: Why governments redesign micro company legal obligations

Kitching

2019

International Small Business Journal

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This article contributes to the literature on small business and regulation by presenting and testing a comprehensive framework for explaining government motivations to implement regulatory reform targeting micro companies as beneficiaries. Following Haines, I adopt an alternative approach to the conventional market failure or equity rationales to explain government reform. Reform initiatives are conceptualised in terms of the management of three types of risk – actuarial, sociocultural and political. Combining a critical discourse analysis with an argumentative approach to policy analysis of documentary sources relevant to the Small Companies (Micro-Entities’ Accounts) Regulations 2013, I propose three contributions to the literature. First, reform policies are prompted by diverse risk concerns; they cannot be explained solely in terms of addressing market failure or equity considerations alone. Second, regulatory reform might, in certain circumstances, be better explained as a strategy for managing political and sociocultural risk rather than the actuarial risks that policymakers use explicitly to justify government action. Third, reforms might be motivated more by political and sociocultural risk where the legal change implemented is minimal, where robust research evidence to support the reform is limited or non-existent, or where the issue is of low salience to business owners themselves.

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Analysing discourse as a causal mechanism

Cited by 35 publications

References 96 publications

Regulation by visibility: New forms of global social governance

Regulation by visibility: New forms of global social governance

The mother of all isms: Causal mechanisms and structured pluralism in International Relations theory

Regulatory reform as risk management: Why governments redesign micro company legal obligations

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