The Second Sex as the Theoretical Basis for the Feminist Critical Discourse Analysis

Document Type : Research Article

Author

• Zainab Saberpour

Ferdowsi University of Mashhad

10.22067/jls.v47i1.25553

Abstract

Feminist critical discourse analysis is an approach distinguished by its focus on revealing unequal power relations between women and men in their social life. In the present paper, it is suggested that Simone de Beauvoir’s theory of the formation of gender identity and female subject in The Second Sex provides a meaningful theoretical ground to the feminist critical discourse analysis. Although The Second Sex antedates current discourse studies, it reveals a notable compatibility with the ontological and epistemological assumptions of the critical approaches to discourse studies. In this article, The Second Sex has been analyzed in regard to its critical approach, its idea of power and ideology, its relation to social constructionism, its critical approach to common sense and science, its evaluation of historical changes and the role of discourse orders in the formation of subject.

Keywords

• critical discourse analysis
• feminism
• gender
• Simone de Beauvoir
• The Second Sex

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