In the increasingly competitive and market-oriented educational environment, community colleges are not immune to the grasps of neoliberal ideology. As the neoliberal discourse of marketization, privatization, consumerism, and free enterprise spreads throughout higher education, are institutions in danger of transforming into nothing more than…

Designers who consult behavioral scientists may tend to consider them either omnipotent or impotent because the term "behavioral science" has no clear referents. There are confusions in the meaning of "behavior" that can influence the designer's acceptance of the behavioral scientist's advice: he must beware of confusing the need for an enduring…

Examines the specific role of rhetoric in philosophical argumentation. Suggests that one way to understand the rhetorical impact of a philosophical argument is in terms of the claim that rhetoric is a "wedge." (NKA)

Employs Kenneth Burke's sociological criticism to study the discourse of the 1984 nominating conventions. Finds that the parties organized narratives that followed distinct assessments of political reality as the Democrats told a story following a "fear and fairness" theme, while the Republicans relied on a "prosperity and…

Raises the question of when extraordinary measures are justified in interpreting a discourse. Questions whether the same decoding strategies should be used to derive meaning from a schizophrenic's discourse as from that of a nonschizophrenic. (FL)

Uses the example of an abortion case to illustrate the precedence of juridic power over judiciary reality. (AM)

Analyzes the argumentational structure of a legal document. (AM)

States when Chicana feminists refuse to accept mainstream definitions of themselves and insist that they establish and affirm their own identity, they build a space through discourse. Describes the three-step process by which they do this: carving out their own space, turning this space into a home with connections to family, and building…

Examines colloquial uses of "like" as a discourse marker with the goal of specifying its discourse functions, including semantic, pragmatic, and sociopragmatic aspects of meaning. Data presented come from nine interviews. (Author/VWL)

Introduces the special issue of this journal on microanalyses of classroom discourse, providing an explanation of the how the issue is organized and describing each of the five articles contained. (Author/VWL)

Highlights the articles included in this special issue, which focus on a common set of questions that permit readers to read contrastively across articles with differing goals, data sets, and analytic traditions. (Author/VWL)

Focuses on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial (VVM). Evaluates the critical responses of communication scholars and others to the VVM. Suggests directions for research which would attempt to explain the social functions and ideological uses of this extraordinary site. (MS)

Examines the rhetoric of "The Big Book," the basic text of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), using fantasy theme analysis. Suggests that the rhetorical vision of AA may be described as Alcoholism as Treatable Illness of Body, Mind, and Soul; a variation of Bormann's rhetorical form "Fetching Good out of Evil." (SR)

Asks whether different kinds of arguments are essentially similar or different. Considers three kinds of argument as potentially the primary argument. Rejects each, concluding that these kinds of argument are fundamentally similar. Focuses on the ideas of publicness, sociality, and cognition, assuming these to be the main possibilities for…

Sets forth a relational perspective on developing friendships. Examines talk in and about children's friendships to test the assumption that conversation constitutes and structures friendships. Found that discourse patterns appeared in particular configurations of expectations (where the model of friendship is forming) and behavior (where the…