From James Gee, Intro to Discourse Analysis, chapter 4, we are carriers of Discourses
"It is sometimes helpful to think about social and political issues as if it is not just us humans who are talking and interacting with each other, but, rather, the Discourses we represent and enact, and for which we are “carriers.” The Discourses we enact existed before each of us came on the scene and most of them will exist long after we have left the scene. Discourses, through our words and deeds, have talked to each other through history, and, in doing so, formed human history." [read this part up until] "Intriguingly, we humans are very often unaware of the history of these interchanges and, thus, in a deep sense, not fully aware of what we mean when we act and talk." [read the whole section about Discourse]
From Chapter 6: "Discourses are partly defined in terms of their relationships of allegiance and opposition to each other. It is as if they use us humans (for our time on earth) to talk to, with, and against each other. "
From Chapter 9: "The working-class men Strauss studied were, in a sense, “colonized” by the success figured world (we are all, in fact, “colonized” by a good many figured worlds that have come to us without much reflection on our part about how well they fit our interests or serve us in the world). "