1.) In his piece Gee has defined a Discourse as “saying (writing)-doing-being-valuing, believing combinations”. It is important that all aspects of this combination are met to be considered a discourse. These elements together make up how a person acts, speaks and interacts with people, these are essentially what a discourse is. An example of a discourse could be from where you grew up. Each area is different and has its own style, culture and slang, therefore creating its own sort of discourse. If you were to adhere to the typical style, culture and slang of your area that would most likely end up being your primary discourse. For example being from New Jersey I believe that a discourse that I have would be from where I grew up because I would consider it to be part of my “identity kit”, the way I dress, speak and act all resemble people that grew up in the same area as I did.
3.) There are both similarities and differences between primary and secondary discourses. The main differences between them is that a primary discourse is the first discourse that we automatically use to interact with people and make sense of our surroundings. A secondary discourse in more often used in certain situations that demand other types of discourses for certain social networks.
5.) Discourses can be important in many different fields of study and work, but especially in the business field. Discourses are how you speak, how you act and how you carry yourself. The nonverbal discourse is extremely important for business, your body language lets anyone you are interacting with how you are feeling in that moment. Confidence is key when it comes to business, your body language lets people know immediately how confident or unsure you are. For example Cuddy stated that “So you have people who are like caricatures of alphas, really coming into the room, they get right into the middle of the room before class even starts, like they really want to occupy space. When they sit down, they’re sort of spread out. They raise their hands like this. You have other people who are virtually collapsing when they come in. As soon they come in, you see it. You see it on their faces and their bodies, and they sit in their chair and they make themselves tiny, and they go like this when they raise their hand.” Cuddy said that she can tell the confidence levels and personality type as soon as students walk into the room. The students that are seen as less confident will not be as successful in business as their more confident peers.
