Opinion Discourse: Investigating the Paradoxical Nature of the Text and Talk of Opinions

Abstract

Recent discourse studies have increased our awareness of the discursive origins, significance, and consequences of "opinion," "emotion," and "mind" more generally. In this article I explore some of the complexities in treating opinions discursively. To that end I examine empirical data from travelogues, mass media, and a research interview. Through contextual, cultural, and cross-situational analysis, it is seen that a subjective opinion can be offered as objective fact, that a personal opinion can be interconnected with different kinds of the social other, and that a private opinion can be reflexively managed by a public self. More generally, the study shows that the discourse of opinion is inextricably linked with several contradictory kinds of discourse. In conclusion I suggest critical applications that could be made.

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