Discourse Analysis as Social Construction: Towards Greater Integration of Approaches and Methods

This paper presents a reflection on the process of doing critical discourse research. Examples from a current project on the discursive construction of ‘older worker’ identity are used to illustrate how major challenges inherent in undertaking discourse research can be addressed. These involved initial justifications of discourse theory as a research framework, research design and the selection of a research site, data collection, data analysis and framing key findings in order to contribute to broader debates about age, gender and unemployment. The research was intended to contribute to existing knowledge by investigating an under-researched topic in the discourse literature – age identity and its implications in employment. Yet in the research process a number of additional contributions emerged. Firstly, applying a variety of methods permitted a greater understanding of the complexity of processes of social construction of identity and its implications for power relations between different groups in a specific socio-economic context. Secondly the sampling approach adopted led to an exploration not only of the discursive processes of construction of social identity, but also of its suppression in discourse. By tracing these processes over time and adopting a critical orientation, it was possible to show the implications of this suppression for different (gendered) groups in the labour market. Thirdly, the study illustrated the value of using discourse analysis to research the processes involved in the development of government policy which had implications for the amount of public recognition and government attention and assistance certain groups would receive.