The Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse

The Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse (SKAD) has reoriented research into social forms, structuration and processes of meaning construction and reality formation; doing so by linking social constructivist and pragmatist approaches with post-structuralist thinking in order to study discourses and create epistemological space for analysing processes of world-making in culturally diverse environments.
SKAD is anchored in interpretive traditions of inquiry and allows for broadening - and possibly overcoming - of the epistemological biases and restrictions still common in theories and approaches of Western- and Northern-centric social sciences. An innovative volume, this book is exactly attentive to these empirically based, globally diverse further developments of approach, with a clear focus on the methodology and its implementation. Thus, The Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse presents itself as a research program and locates the approach within the context of interpretive social sciences, followed by eleven chapters on different cases from around the world that highlight certain theoretical questions and methodological challenges.
Presenting outstanding applications of the Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse across a wide variety of substantive projects and regional contexts, this text will appeal to postgraduate students and researchers interested in fields such as Discourse Studies, Sociology, Cultural Studies and Qualitative Methodology and Methods.

Reiner Keller (Dr. phil.) is Professor of Sociology at Augsburg University, Germany. Anna-Katharina Hornidge (Dr. phil.) is Professor of Social Sciences at the University of Bremen and heads Development & Knowledge Sociology at the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT), Bremen, Germany. Wolf J. Schünemann (Dr. phil.) is Junior Professor of Political Science with a focus on Internet and Politics at Hildesheim University, Germany.

Foreword Introduction: The Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse in an interdependent World The Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse. An Introduction Situating SKAD in Interpretive Inquiry The Social Construction of Value. A Comparative SKAD Analysis of Public Discourses on Waste in France and Germany SKAD Analysis of European Multi-Level Political Debates Legislation and Discourse. Research on the Making of Law by Means of Discourse Analysis A SKAD Ethnography of Educational Knowledge Discourses Using SKAD to Study Chinese Contemporary Governance - Reflections on our Research Process Using SKAD to Analyse Classification Practices in Public Health: Methodological Reflections on the Research Process Self-Positioning of Semi-Skilled Workers - Analyzing Subjectification Processes with SKAD Dangerous of Endangered? Using the Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse to Uncover Subject Positions of Sex Workers in South African Media Discourse Guidance on transitions. Reconstructing the rationalities of the European discourse on career guidance services using the sociology of knowledge approach Using SKAD to Investigate Cooperation and Conflict over Water Resources Studying Discourses Ethnographically: A Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Analysing Macro-Level Forces in Micro-Settings From Analysis to Visualisation. Synoptical Tools from SKAD Studies and the Entity Mapper