Founding figures of this approach are
Ernesto Laclau and
Chantal Mouffe, two
post-Marxist political theorists, who, tried, since the 1970s, to reinterpret
Gramsci’s theory of
hegemony to highlight the role of meaning and of processes of
interpellation and identification in the creation of political identities and in the articulation and sedimentation of political discourses and hegemonic orders. The paradigmatic formulation of this approach and of its various conceptual innovations can be found in Laclau’s and Mouffe’s
Hegemony and Socialist Strategy, first published in 1985, as well as in subsequent works.
School founded The approach developed by Laclau and Mouffe provided the teaching backbone of the
graduate programme in Ideology and Discourse Analysis Laclau founded at the
University of Essex in the early 1980s. Already from its inception, the programme attracted many MA and PhD students from around the globe, especially from Argentina, Mexico, Greece, Denmark, Spain, the US and the UK. Many PhD theses further developing Laclau’s and Mouffe’s discourse theory and applying it in the analysis of empirical cases have since been completed. The activities of the Centre for Theoretical Studies in the Humanities and the Social Sciences, also founded by Laclau at the University of Essex (and now co-directed by Norval and Howarth), also served as a hub for the group.
Spread and naming Graduates of the programme are now employed by universities in many parts of the world, while the programme itself is run by three members of staff at Essex:
Aletta Norval, David Howarth and Jason Glynos, all ex-PhD students of Laclau. Academics associated with the programme have also set up a World Network in Ideology and Discourse Analysis, which provides a web-based channel of communication between its 203 registered members and has organized the Inaugural World Conference in Ideology and Discourse Analysis, which took place from 8–10 September 2008 at
Roskilde University,
Denmark, with Ernesto Laclau as keynote speaker. Beginning in 2000, a series of monographs, edited collections, and textbooks by members of the group, some of them based on the doctoral research conducted within the programme were published, synthesizing the group's work. As the group has attained more recognition within the academic community, it has begun to be included within the field of discourse analysis in textbooks and introductions to the field published by independent scholars. As a result of all these developments, the distinct identity of the group and of its research output gradually triggered a process of naming. From 2003 onwards, when critics wanted to refer to the work of members of the group, they used the phrase ‘the Essex School’, which is now widely used. == Approach ==