Book review: Applied Discourse Analysis: Social and Psychological Interventions

Willig, Carla (1999) Applied Discourse Analysis: Social and Psychological Interventions, Open University Press, Buckingham. 166 pp. ISBN 0 335 202286 8 Reviewed by Chris Lawe Davies The book is one of a three part series which aim to deal with a ‘social constructionist’ perspective, which seems to be a kind of re-working of discourse analysis through cultural studies and psychology, with the ultimate aim of making sense of social action and experience. As the only compilation/reader in the series the quality is variable, but in order to maximise the book’s usefulness each chapter is organised around a particular textual site. So that if it were to be used as an introductory reader in a cultural studies, media studies, communications or broad-based journalism course, staff and students would not have to work their way through it, but could pick textual sites which coincided with their interests.