A Critical Lens on Health: Key Principles of Critical Discourse Analysis and Its Benefits to Anti-Racism in Population Public Health Research

Jessica Naidu, Elizabeth Oddone Paolucci and Tanvir C. Turin ()
Additional contact information
Jessica Naidu: Department of Community Health Sciences, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 4N1, Canada
Elizabeth Oddone Paolucci: Department of Community Health Sciences, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 4N1, Canada
Tanvir C. Turin: Department of Community Health Sciences, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 4N1, Canada

Societies, 2023, vol. 13, issue 2, 1-10

Abstract: Critical discourse analysis (CDA) is an interdisciplinary research methodology used to analyze discourse as a form of “social practice”, exploring how meaning is socially constructed. In addition, the methodology draws from the field of critical studies, in which research places deliberate focus on the social and political forces that produce social phenomena as a means to challenge and change societal practices. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate the benefits of CDA to population public health (PPH) research. We will do this by providing a brief overview of CDA and its history and purpose in research and then identifying and discussing three crucial principles that we argue are crucial to successful CDA research: (1) CDA research should contribute to social justice; (2) CDA is strongly based in theory; and (3) CDA draws from constructivist epistemology. A key benefit that CDA brings to PPH research is its critical lens, which aligns with the fundamental goals of PPH including addressing the social determinants of health and reducing health inequities. Our analysis demonstrates the need for researchers in population public health to strongly consider critical discourse analysis as an approach to understanding the social determinants of health and eliminating health inequities in order to achieve health and wellness for all.

Keywords: social justice; discourse analysis; public health research (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A13 A14 P P0 P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 Z1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/13/2/42/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/13/2/42/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsoctx:v:13:y:2023:i:2:p:42-:d:1062039

Access Statistics for this article

Societies is currently edited by Ms. Farrah Sun

More articles in Societies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().