Discourse in Everyday Life—The Everyday Life of Discourse: Towards an Empirical Grounded Methodology of Discourse Research in Social Sciences

Abstract

How can one apply discourse analysis to everyday knowledge? The empirical analysis of a particular discursive Internet-based event, the Internet forum "1000 Questions about Bioethics", offers a good starting point for methodological considerations of the relationship between everyday life and discourse. This article discusses three main points. First, it differentiates between three types of discourse, namely special discourse, interdiscourse and elementary discourse. Second, it offers a contribution to the conceptualization of everyday discourse. In this respect, BERGER and LUCKMANN's sociology of knowledge proves helpful; their approach is subjected to a reading that uses a structural theoretical view drawing on FOUCAULT. The structured character as well as the originality of "what people are saying" are explored; the significance of establishing legitimacy and subjectivation for everyday knowledge is also pointed out. Finally, the article presents the authors' empirical findings on the relations between special knowledge and everyday knowledge. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0702156