COMM 245 - Exam 3

Habermas

German philosopher and creator of the concept of the public sphere.
- his work tries to “complete the project of modernity”
- wants to show the possibilities of reasoned discourse in contemporary society and culture
- traces what “public” and “private” mean from the middle ages to the 18th century

public sphere

A realm of our social life in which something approaching public opinion can be formed.
-Not a physical space
-Where debate over policy occurs, making clear what the public mood or -assessment is to guide those in positions of power
-Embodiment of symbolic action in terms of public policy

The bourgeois public sphere - first and second estate discuss politics

How did the public sphere develop according to Habermas

- It must be accessible to all citizens
- there must be access to information
- the means to transmit info must be accessible to those who can be influenced
- must be institution guarantees

What does Habermas say is needed for the public sphere to function smoothly?

“public opinion can by definition only come into existence when a reasoning public is presupposed”
Who decides what is rational?

What are the flaws with Habermas’ ideal of the public sphere?

a public

people coming together to discuss common concerns, including concerns about who they are and what they should do

strong publics

publics whose discourse encompasses both opinion formation and decision making

weak publics

publics who deliberative practice consists exclusively in opinion formation and does not also encompass decision making

counterpublic

parallel discursive arenas where members of subordinated social groups invent and circulate counter discourse to formulate oppositional interpretations of their identities, interests, and needs

counterpublic sphere is marginalized group actively working for change against status quo – typically have less agency that public sphere

What is the difference between a counterpublic sphere and a public sphere?

cyberpublic

publics existing online

public screen

the constant circulation of symbolic action enabled by the relatively new media technologies of television, computers, photography, film, internet, and smart phones

Isocrates

a minor philosopher and a sophist
-not concerned with the search for absolute truth
-knowledge of truth is difficult to come by; rejects the possibility of teaching it
-“it is much better to form probably opinions about useful things than to have exact knowledge about useless things”

the four views of rhetoric

natural talent, including arete (virtue)
practice in varied situations
instruction in general principles (theory)

phronesis

“practical wisdom” or the ability to make the right decision at the right time

kairos

fitness for the occasion

rhetoric's connection to ethics or morality

-rhetoric cannot teach arete (virtue)
-rhetors who want to be effective will project the morals/ethics of their audiences
-rhetors want to come off as moral/ethical to their audience
-those who do this will practice those morals regularly
-those morals/ethics will become a habit

persona

What do all rhetors enact when engaging in rhetoric?

character (ethos)
role
identity
authority
image

What are the five facets of a persona?

coercive power
reward power
legitimate power
expert power
referent power

5 sources of power

coercive power

power to punish

reward power

power to give you what you want

legitimate power

given by the structure/hierarchy of the institution

expert power

knowledge

referent power

people you look up to and that you give authority/power to bc you like who they are/what they do

mystification

tbd

identity

who you are as a person, whether onstage or not

strategic essentialism

the process of making an identity ingredient the core part of one's persona, which legitimizes the right to speak

social power

tbd

persona

the ethos, roles, identity, and image a rhetor constructs and performs (or that others construct for the rhetor to perform) during a rhetorical act

performance

all the activity of a given participant on a given occasion which serves to influence in any way any of the other participants

ethos

that which is in the character of the speaker; more. specifically, it is the character of a rhetor performed in the rhetorical act and known by the audience because of prior interactions

identity

the physical and/or behavioral attributes that make a person recognizable as a member of a group

intersectionality

the nature of identity as "multiplicative" rather than additive

image

a verbal and visual representation, emphasizing particular qualities and characteristics, that creates a perception of the rhetor in the audience's minds

postmodernism

theory that places into question singular explanations, metanarratives, categories, and the certainty of supposedly objective interpretations of the world

polysemous

the multiple meanings of a single text

polyvalence

multitude of valuations - occurs when audience members share understandings of the denotations of a text but disagree about the valuation of the denotations to such a degree that they produce notably different interpretations

denotative; connotational

polysemy implies that audiences interpret different ___ meanings from the text, while polyvalence implies that they extract different ___ meanings

enclaved publics

publics that conceal their "antiestablishment ideas and strategies in order to avoid sanctions, but internally produce lively debate and planning

oscillating publics

publics that exist to "engage in debate with outsiders to and to test ideas"

networked publics

interconnected publics and counterpublics formed or strengthened as a result of the communication practices enabled by the internet and social media

networked public screens

image events, iconic and everyday, are produced and circulated in a networked mediascape