Browsing by Subject "Civility"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5

Civility in digital discourse : an experimental approach to the contagion of thoughtful and hurtful responses
(2021-05-07) Oshinski, Paul DuPont; Shaw, Daron R., 1966-; O'Brien, Shannon
Civility is a concept still not well understood or systematically defined by scholars of communication and political science. As such, many in the public sphere have echoed that certain linguistic behaviors characterized by civility and incivility set the tone and can affect downstream or peripheral conversation. This study measures if civility or incivility is contagious, especially as it relates to political disagreement on social media. In an experimental study (n=585), mTurk participants were randomly presented with short vignettes similar in length and framework to a social media post. These posts conveyed opinions in direct opposition to participants’ views on gun control and either contained language classified as informational (Control), civil (Treatment 1), or uncivil (Treatment 2). After reviewing a vignette, participants were then asked about their willingness to respond to the vignette as if the words were directly spoken to them on social media. Participants then were asked their if response to the vignette would be characterized by civility. The findings are mixed, but indicate that when a respondent received an uncivil social media message, they were less likely to respond civilly. In addition, when a respondent received a civil message, they were more likely to respond civilly. In this way, some preliminary evidence exists for the contagion of civility and incivility in social media.
Inclusivity and the (un)civil paradox : critiquing and needing civility in the public sphere
(2016-09-29) Hatch, Justin Dean; Roberts-Miller, Patricia, 1959-; Longaker, Mark
Scholars have turned toward Deliberative Democracy in recent decades in part because of its potential for including more voices in decision making processes that affect an increasingly diverse polity. Inherent in Deliberative Democracy’s models, though, are what can be understood as prescriptions of certain types of civility, as consensus is posited as only happening under particular circumstances. Valuing radical inclusion, this study investigates historical negative effects of civility policing before exploring a more agonistic approach’s potential for the inclusion of all voices, especially those previously marginalized.
The limits of civility in the civil rights and Black Power movements : three African-American women's autobiographies
(2009-12) Boade, Erin Alane; Roberts-Miller, Patricia, 1959-
Rhetoricians have long praised argumentation as a productive alternative to violence, and while I agree that it can be such an alternative, my dissertation aims to complicate our understanding of both violence and coercion by illumination how the strictures of civility limit the rhetoric of dissent. This study makes two main arguments, 1), that the dominant narrative of the civil rights and Black Power movements has been insufficiently challenged by rhetoricians, and 2), that this lack can be explained in part by these scholars’ preference for civility and decorum over coercion in persuasion. I argue that both the civil rights and Black Power movements share similarities both tactically and philosophically. Looking beyond assessing these movements in terms of their alleged levels of civility allows us more fully to account for the complexity of their rhetorical situations. I use black women’s autobiographies as my focus because they allow a glimpse into the quotidian nature of the civil rights and Black Power movement’s struggles, one that lies on the margin of the media spotlight on movement leadership. In addition, these autobiographies unveil the multiple audiences activist rhetors faced in ways that major speeches, penned and delivered by men, cannot.
Marvin Malecha Guest Lecture
(1992-09-04) Malecha, Marvin J.
Audio files are EID restricted. Individuals without an EID should send an email request to apl-aaa@lib.utexas.edu.
Radical dismissal : Stokely Carmichael and the problem of inclusion in public deliberation
(2020-08-13) Hatch, Justin Dean; Roberts-Miller, Patricia, 1959-; Longaker, Mark G.; Sackey, Donnie; Gilyard, Keith; Joseph, Peniel
“Radical Dismissal: Stokely Carmichael and the Problem of Inclusion in Public Deliberation” has two interrelated goals—first, to lay bare the rhetorical mechanisms by which those in power silence dissent, and, second, to view with greater clarity Stokely Carmichael’s rhetorical strategies and legacies. Toward those goals, I examine Carmichael’s words in the year following SNCC’s release of the slogan “Black Power,” and I look closely at the almost universally negative responses to them during the same period. While the terms—angry, hateful, demagogue, racist, etc.—that Carmichael’s critics use to dismiss him vary, they all direct attention away from his institutional critique toward his relationship to subjective norms of discourse. I open the dissertation by introducing Carmichael and relevant context and by developing the dissertation’s overarching theoretical framework. I borrow from scholars writing on “civility” to develop “civility policing” as rhetorical action that preserves unjust harmonies (Roberts-Miller, Deliberate Conflict 154), displaces blame from oppressor to oppressed (Welch 110), and silences dissent (Lozano-Reich and Cloud 223). Chapter One finds that Carmichael’s critics shaped his image and longer legacy by amplifying a distorted version of his message. An exploration of Carmichael’s words especially within a set of letters to Lorna Smith offers a corrective. Chapter Two explores the utility of two definitions of the term “demagogue” for distinguishing anti-racist rhetoric. While critics accuse Carmichael of being a “demagogue,” his words in Black Power: The Politics of Liberation in America not only contradict the claim, but also return the charge. Chapter Three builds on Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca’s “dissociation of concepts” and Janice Fernheimer’s “dissociative disruption” to better understand the adaptive rhetorical strategies Carmichael used in his most famous speech given at Berkeley. I offer the term “subversive dissociation” as a charge to discover the dissociative foundations of dominant racial narratives.