A Commentary on Discursive and Cultural Psychology

Abstract

Discursive psychology offers a perspective and methodology for dealing with many topics in cultural psychology, especially those that call for relativistic analyses. It addresses the issue of how participants in interaction construct their sense and the relevance of situated activity settings. Discursive psychology builds upon the traditions of rhetoric (in the sense of Michael Billig) and ethnographic studies of cultures. People are viewed as having ways of describing and explaining their actions within the set of cultural practices. Discursive psychology investigates how cultural categories are used in social practices.