Discourse Processes between Reason and Emotion: A Post-disciplinary Perspective

Discourse analysis (DA) considers how language constructs social and cultural perspectives and identities. ‘Of all the aspects of language, discourse analysis is singularly interdisciplinary’ (Lakoff 2015: 293). It is a broad and multifaceted research area that facilitates understanding hierarchical relations and participants’ positions in various discourse communities. Discussing the emergence and importance of power dynamics in shaping the production and reception of messages, Discourse Processes between Reason and Emotion: A Post-disciplinary Perspective addresses political, media and academic discourse, and encompasses representative instances of this heterogeneity. Its post-disciplinary account of DA from a state-of-the-art collection draws on theoretical and methodological analysis to outline the background, methods and outcomes of DA, with a range of cutting-edge scholarship providing detailed guidelines and findings in the linguistic and discursive processes regarding reason and emotion. With an introductory chapter, the book consists of seven more chapters. The first two chapters focus specifically on message processing and the subsequent five chapters present the dynamics of power in specific discursive representations of social interactions. The introductory chapter argues for the inter- and transdisciplinarity of DA, and sketches the theoretical and methodological frameworks used in the book under review. Acknowledging the post-disciplinarity of DA, it points out the significance of a pragmatic and constructive synthesis that is based on interdependence and reciprocal influence of different theories, practices and strategies originating from specific areas of research. Targeting the reason-and-emotion