Applying Membership Categorisation Analysis to Discourse: When the 'Tripwire Critique' is not enough

Abstract

This chapter provides an outline of Membership Categorisation Analysis, exemplifies some of its applications, and argues for its significance for the agenda of critical discourse analysis. The chapter describes and illustrates the organisation of categories in everyday discourse, categorisation devices and their rules for application, and the relationship of categorisation practices to the interpretation of activities, features, and attributions. As part of these processes, the use of topic selections, list formations, and embedded stories in the assembly and interpretation of categories and features is also illustrated. We conclude by suggesting that the application of MCA is one alternative to the 'tripwire' approach to critique, which searches for allegedly telltale signs of unacceptable moral and ideological attitudes in the surface features of language.