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Reconceptualizing the Role of Change in the Communication Discipline
Dr.
Sonja K. Foss Dr.
Karen A. Foss
As far back as the origins of Western rhetoric in ancient Greece, the term rhetoric has been seen as persuasion or the conscious intent to change others. In fact, persuasion is so widely used and accepted in virtually every area of the discipline that most of us have never stopped to question its appropriateness as a communication project. Certainly, there are times when persuasion should be used. We want to propose, however, that communication scholars and instructors think seriously about the assumption that persuasion is always desirable. We want to problematize and reconceptualize the role of communication in the change process and to suggest that there may be other ways in which communication can function other than to make others change in ways that align with our preferences. The impetus for this approach to change comes from our commitment to feminism. We define feminism broadly as the efforts to disrupt the ideology of domination that pervades Western culture. It is the effort to eliminate relationships of domination, oppression, and elitism and the creation instead of relationships of self-determination, affirmation, mutuality, equality, and respect. We found that the effort to reconcile rhetorical theory and feminist theory was becoming increasingly difficult for us. Persuasion, with its intent to change others, violates our definition of feminism because of its focus on control and domination. Our work with feminist scholarship suggested an alternative approach to change. Feminist conceptions of change suggest five primary assumptions that underlie a new role for communication in the change process: (1) To change another person is difficult; (2) The attempt to change others violates their inherent value and integrity; (3) If individuals are going to change, they must change themselves; (4) Resistance and opposition may not be the best rhetorical options for creating change; and (5) the means are the ends. These assumptions offer alternatives to persuasion and suggest a radical restructuring and rethinking of many contexts within the communication discipline.
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