Reiner Kellerʼs Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse

Towards a New Development in the Sociological Analysis of Knowledge

Abstract

Considering new research trends in the sociology of knowledge occurring mainly in the German-speaking world since the 1990s, this article focuses on the sociology of knowledge approach to discourse（SKAD）, as proposed by Reiner Keller. The SKAD presents a research program for empirically exploring the production and circulation of knowledge and the changes thereof at a macro level by combining the frameworks of knowledge analysis with different traditions of sociology of knowledge and discourse analysis. The SKAD has now spread internationally, beyond the German-speaking world. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the basic theoretical framework and analytical scheme of the SKAD and highlight a particular theoretical issue.

The characteristic feature of the SKAD is that it not only analyzes the content structure of macro-level discourse, as mediated through the mass media for example, but also explains its production, circulation, and transformation in terms of the relationship with elements external to a specific discourse. Considering that issues about the social acceptance of scientific knowledge and the emergence of new technologies have become increasingly serious, this research perspective is highly relevant and has critical significance as it provides a new framework for sociological knowledge analysis. The SKAD, however, presents a challenge in that there is a need to provide a theoretical basis for the ontological or epistemological status of extra discourse elements. Therefore, this paper contends that, while pursuing empirical studies based on the SKAD is useful, further theorizing is necessary to address the challenge of providing such a basis.