Whether and to what extent discourse analysis is a critical endeavor is a matter of debate. This volume explores the reasons and subjects of this discussion regarding the relationship between discourse analysis and criticism. Is there an educational or enlightening mandate for discourse analysis? Who or what should be achieved through criticism: the criticized, the scientific community, or a general audience? What are the subjects of criticism: specific discursive and/or institutional structures that enable discourses, individual actors, or discourse effects (such as normalization, certain subjectivizations, etc.)? How are methodological approaches and critical attitudes related? And finally: should discourse analysis even raise a critical claim, and if so, how should such a claim be understood?.