Information as an occurrence: Pêcheux, discourse and its materiality

Purpose This paper advances a redefinition of information grounded in Michel Pêcheux’s materialist discourse theory. Rather than conceiving information as a representational object or manifested entity, the paper argues that information is best understood as an occurrence – a discursive event produced under determinate historical, ideological and material conditions. The purpose is to articulate the theoretical consequences of this shift for key concepts in Information Science, including relevance, context, document, metadata, knowledge organisation and information behaviour. Design/methodology/approach This is a conceptual and discursive study. It employs close theoretical analysis of Pêcheux’s major works (1969/1995; 1975/1982; 1983/2008), combined with a critical dialogue with contemporary Information Science literature such as manifested information (Petras, 2024), document theory (Buckland, 1991, 1997, 2018; Briet, 1951/2006) and epistemological debates in Knowledge Organisation (Machado et al., 2019). The method is interpretive and philosophical, prioritising conceptual clarification and theoretical synthesis rather than empirical examination. Findings The analysis demonstrates that representational models of information – whether as thing, record, document or manifestation – are insufficient for capturing the eventual, unstable and ideologically saturated nature of meaning. Conceptualising information as occurrence reveals that informational phenomena are inseparable from material inscription, discursive memory, ideological determination, contextual embeddedness and interpretive labour. This reconceptualisation transforms the understanding of relevance, context, metadata and classification, repositioning them as discursive and ideological practices rather than neutral technical processes. Research limitations/implications As a conceptual paper, the study does not offer empirical validation. Its implications are theoretical and methodological: it calls for research designs capable of accounting for discursive production, ideological structuring and historicity in informational phenomena. It also highlights the limitations of behavioural, cognitively oriented and representational methodologies, inviting a broader interpretive and critical approach within the field. Practical implications Understanding information as an occurrence exposes the ideological and political dimensions of information work. It emphasises that classification, description, metadata creation, retrieval algorithms and preservation practices actively shape the conditions under which meaning becomes possible. The perspective supports critical cataloguing, inclusive metadata practices and reflexive systems design attentive to context, ideology and interpretive authority. Social implications By foregrounding the discursive and ideological constitution of information, the paper offers tools to analyse contemporary issues such as misinformation, algorithmic bias, epistemic injustice and discursive inequality. Recognising informational systems as ideological dispositifs enhances the capacity to critique and redesign them in socially responsible ways. Originality/value The paper is the first to develop a sustained theoretical synthesis between Pêcheux’s materialist discourse analysis and Information Science. It introduces the notion of information-as-occurrence as an original ontological proposal and offers a rigorous re-evaluation of foundational Information Science concepts through this lens. The contribution expands the field’s conceptual foundations and provides a theoretical framework capable of addressing informational instability, discursive conflict and ideological structuration in contemporary information environments.