Critical Discourse Analysis and the Language of Social Control

Abstract

In this chapter I shall explore the theme of ideology and its relationship to discourse. I shall investigate how ideology is embedded in features of written discourse which are taken for granted as matters of common sense. To this end, I shall discuss the type of ‘social-control discourse’ which can be found in Reasoning and Rehabilitation: a Handbook for Teaching Cognitive Skills (Ross et al., 1989). This Handbook is used by the Cognitive Skills tutors (two prison officers) as a reference for the training sessions. The sections I have chosen for discussion include the ‘Objectives of Training’, ‘Problem Solving’ and ‘Values Enhancement’. They are intended to give an overview of the Cognitive Skills texts found in the Handbook and also put the Cognitive Skills classroom interactions in the following chapter into context.