Critical discourse analysis (CDA) is an interdisciplinary approach to the study of discourse

Discourse

Discourse generally refers to "written or spoken communication". The following are three more specific definitions:...

 that views language as a form of social practice and focuses on the ways social and political domination are visible in text and talk.

Since Norman Fairclough

Norman Fairclough

Norman Fairclough is emeritus Professor of Linguistics at Lancaster University. He is one of the founders of critical discourse analysis as applied to sociolinguistics. CDA is concerned with how power is exercised through language...

's Language and Power in 1989, CDA has been deployed as a method of analysis throughout the humanities and social sciences. It is neither a homogeneous nor necessarily united approach.