An award-winning study of how formal and informal public discourse shapes opinionsA foundational text of twenty-first-century rhetorical studies, Vernacular Voices addresses the role of citizen voices in steering a democracy through an examination of the rhetoric of publics. Gerard A. Hauser maintains that the interaction between everyday and official discourse discloses how active members of a complex society discover and clarify their shared interests an...

This collection presents theoretical, critical, applied, and pedagogical questions and cases of publics and public spheres, examining these contexts as sources and sites of civic engagement. Reflecting the current state of rhetorical theory and research, the contributions arise from the 2002 conference proceedings of the Rhetoric Society of America (RSA). The collected essays bring together rhetoricians of different intellectual stripes in a multi-traditional conversation about rhetoric's ...

Compelling case studies and criticism of rhetorical practices aimed at social changeThe Public Work of Rhetoric presents the art of rhetorical techné as a contemporary praxis for civic engagement and social change, which is necessarily inclusive of people inside and outside the academy. In this provocative call to action, editors John M. Ackerman and David J. Coogan, along with seventeen other accomplished contributors, offer case studies and criticism on ...

This collection of essays investigates the historiography of rhetoric, global perspectives on rhetoric, and the teaching of writing and rhetoric, offering diverse viewpoints. Addressing four major areas of research in rhetoric and writing studies, contributors consider authorship and audience, discuss the context and material conditions in which students compose, cover the politics of the field and the value of a rhetorical education, and reflect on contemporary trends in canon diversifica...

Is deliberative democracy the ideal goal of free speech? How do social movement organizations, activists, and political candidates use the media to frame their discourse? What responsibilities does the media have in maintaining or promoting democracy? In this broadly interdisciplinary volume, top scholars in communication, political science, sociology, law, and philosophy offer new perspectives on these and other intersections within democratic discourse and media. Interweaving elements of...

Philosophy of Communication Ethics is a unique and timely contribution to the study of communication ethics. This series of essays articulates unequivocally the intimate connection between philosophy of communication and communication ethics. This scholarly volume assumes that there is a multiplicity of communication ethics. What distinguishes one communication ethic from another is the philosophy of communication in which a particular ethic is grounded. Philosophy of communication is the ...

A survey of the innovative scholarship emerging at the intersections of rhetoric, and fieldworkA variety of research areas within rhetorical studies—including everyday and public rhetorics, space and place-based work, material and ecological approaches, environmental communication, technical communication, and critical and participatory action research, among others—have increasingly called for ethnographic fieldwork that grounds the study of rhetoric with...

A philosophical-cultural exploration, this book expands the discussion of "class" from a novel perspective. Following the current debates about wealth and class, the contributors address the social and cultural phenomena of class from a uniquely innovative philosophical approach and reconsider philosophical "givens" within the context of culture.

Renewing Rhetoric’s Relation to Composition comprehensively examines the development of rhetoric and composition, using the writings of Theresa Jarnagin Enos as points of departure for studies of broader trends. Chapters explore such topics as the historical relations of rhetoric and composition, their evolution within programs of study, and Enos’s research on gender. The volume presents the growing disjunction between rhetoric and composition and paints a compelling picture of th...

Naomi Zack pioneers a new theory of justice starting from a correction of current injustices. While the present justice paradigm in political philosophy and related fields begins from John Rawls’s 1970 Theory of Justice, Zack insists that what people in reality care about is not justice as an ideal, but injustice as a correctable ill. For a way to describe real injustice and the society in which it occurs, Zack resurrect Arthur Bentley’s key insight that government and law (or political li...

How propaganda undermines democracy and why we need to pay attentionOur democracy today is fraught with political campaigns, lobbyists, liberal media, and Fox News commentators, all using language to influence the way we think and reason about public issues. Even so, many of us believe that propaganda and manipulation aren't problems for us—not in the way they were for the totalitarian societies of the mid-twentieth century. In How Propaganda Works, Jason ...

Friedrich Kratochwil's book explores the role of law in the international arena and the key discourses surrounding it. It explains the increased importance of law for politics, from law-fare to the judicialization of politics, to human rights, and why traditional expectations of progress through law have led to disappointment. Providing an overview of the debates in legal theory, philosophy, international law and international organizations, Kratochwil reflects on the need to break down di...