Skip to main content

LUP Student Papers

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Sustainability, A Concept of Constructive or Confusing Ambiguity? A Critical Discourse Analysis

Kahle, Judith LU (2012) HEKM10 20121
Human Ecology
Abstract
This study resembles a critical discourse analysis on inter- and transdisciplinary research on sustainability. Through the overall lens of critical realism and constructivism understandings and representations of sustainability are examined. The study therefore investigates and compares the websites of five research institutes based on the theoretical concepts of post-normal science by Bateson, sustainability, power and knowledge in Foucault’s sense and representation by Eisner.
The analysis of the websites not only confirms different understandings of the term among the five research institutes but also reveals a lack of clear and consistent explanation of the term within the websites themselves. This inconsistency in content is... (More)
This study resembles a critical discourse analysis on inter- and transdisciplinary research on sustainability. Through the overall lens of critical realism and constructivism understandings and representations of sustainability are examined. The study therefore investigates and compares the websites of five research institutes based on the theoretical concepts of post-normal science by Bateson, sustainability, power and knowledge in Foucault’s sense and representation by Eisner.
The analysis of the websites not only confirms different understandings of the term among the five research institutes but also reveals a lack of clear and consistent explanation of the term within the websites themselves. This inconsistency in content is reflected and reinforced by the websites’ language-in-use.
Furthermore this study investigates the subtle power dimensions woven into inter- and transdisciplinary research on sustainability and shows that the discourse on sustainability is essentially shaped by inter-institutional power relations. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Kahle, Judith LU
supervisor
organization
course
HEKM10 20121
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Sustainability, critical discourse analysis, inter- and transdisciplinarity, power, representation
language
English
id
2540510
date added to LUP
2012-11-12 11:01:26
date last changed
2012-11-12 11:01:26
@misc{2540510,
  abstract     = {{This study resembles a critical discourse analysis on inter- and transdisciplinary research on sustainability. Through the overall lens of critical realism and constructivism understandings and representations of sustainability are examined. The study therefore investigates and compares the websites of five research institutes based on the theoretical concepts of post-normal science by Bateson, sustainability, power and knowledge in Foucault’s sense and representation by Eisner.
The analysis of the websites not only confirms different understandings of the term among the five research institutes but also reveals a lack of clear and consistent explanation of the term within the websites themselves. This inconsistency in content is reflected and reinforced by the websites’ language-in-use.
Furthermore this study investigates the subtle power dimensions woven into inter- and transdisciplinary research on sustainability and shows that the discourse on sustainability is essentially shaped by inter-institutional power relations.}},
  author       = {{Kahle, Judith}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Sustainability, A Concept of Constructive or Confusing Ambiguity? A Critical Discourse Analysis}},
  year         = {{2012}},
}