Compare methods

	Politeness Analysis	Critical Discourse Analysis
Field	Linguistics	Qualitative
Family	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
Year of origin	1987	Late 1970s–1990s (systematised ~1979–1995)
Originator	Penelope Brown and Stephen C. Levinson	Norman Fairclough; Teun A. van Dijk; Ruth Wodak
Type	Qualitative analysis of linguistic politeness via face theory	Qualitative research method
Seminal source	Brown, P., & Levinson, S. C. (1987). Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage. Cambridge University Press. ISBN: 9780521313551	Fairclough, N. (1992). Discourse and Social Change. Polity Press.
Aliases	Face Theory Analysis, Politeness Strategy Analysis, Linguistic Politeness Analysis	CDA, Critical Linguistics, Discourse-Historical Approach, Dialectical-Relational Analysis
Related	4	6
Summary	Politeness analysis is the qualitative method of examining how speakers manage face — the public self-image people claim — when they perform acts that threaten it. Anchored in Penelope Brown and Stephen Levinson's influential face theory, the analyst locates face-threatening acts in interaction, codes the strategy chosen to soften (or not soften) them, and relates that choice to the weight of the threat as a function of social distance, relative power, and the ranking of the imposition. The framework's enduring scheme of strategies — bald on-record, positive politeness, negative politeness, and off-record — gives politeness phenomena a systematic, comparable description.	Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) is a qualitative method that examines how language in texts and talk constructs, sustains, and challenges relations of power, ideology, and social inequality. Drawing on linguistics, social theory, and critical philosophy, CDA treats discourse not merely as communication but as social practice — a site where dominance is reproduced and where resistance can be articulated. Developed in the late twentieth century by Norman Fairclough, Teun van Dijk, and Ruth Wodak, among others, CDA is applied to political speeches, media texts, policy documents, educational materials, and institutional interactions.