Relativist positions in truth claims can mask relations of power and inequality. A critical realist position allows the identification of such structures, claims Eugene Flanagan in a recent article.

The article studies four newspaper texts in Ireland related to wealth and welfare. Let’s get real: a critical semiotic analysis of Irish print media discourses was published in Social Semiotics and is available online (free abstract).

Picture: Businessman on Broadway by Boss Tweed, licence CC BY 2.0, cropped