Critical discourse studies are acknowledged as an important scientific movement within the field of explanatory critique of social practices. This essay proposes epistemological considerations by means of a transdisciplinar dialogue between Critical Realism as a philosophical approach to the functioning of society proposed by Roy Bhaskar, and Critical Discourse Analysis – a theoretical approach to the social functioning of language and methodological tool to the situated analysis of texts. More specifically, the text explores the relation between social structures, practices and events, taking the position-practice system as an epistemological argument. The discussion is illustrated with two situated studies: one dealing with hybrid positions and tensions between pre-existent objective positions and their subjective occupations within a social movement; the other dealing with fluctuant positions in ELT education practices, as textured in institutional projects.
Critical discourse analysis; Position-practice system; Transformational model of social activity; Epistemology
