Herbert W. Simons

Requirements, problems, and strategies: A theory of persuasion for social movements

(1970). Requirements, problems, and strategies: A theory of persuasion for social movements. Quarterly Journal of Speech: Vol. 56, No. 1, pp. 1-11.

Persuasion in social conflicts: A critique of prevailing conceptions and a framework for future research

It is argued here that students of rhetoric and communication, along with scholars in other disciplines, have tended to reflect “Establishment” biases in treatments of persuasion in social conflicts. As a result, we have often failed to come to grips with the nature of conflict, the needs of “OUTS” and “HAVE‐NOTS,” and the utility of conflict for societies. In the place of prevailing “system orientations,” a “dual perspective” is proposed—one which would examine persuasion in conflicts from the viewpoint of both the actors attempting to maximize their interests in conflict situations and the system attempting to regulate conflict in the collective interest. The concept of “coercive persuasion” is introduced, and several suggestions for research are offered.

Transitional Rhetoric of Chinese Communist Party Leaders in the Post-Mao Reform Period: Dilemmas and Strategies

Since 1978 Chinas ruling Communist Party has moved Chinas economy increasingly toward capitalism and its foreign policy toward strategic partnership with its old enemies in the West. These changes have required Party leaders to reconcile the reforms rhetorically with continued homage to their predecessors, to Chinese traditions, and to Marxist/Maoist orthodoxies. This analysis focuses on key slogans and catchwords used in top-down rhetoric by each post-Mao regime to facilitate economic/political reforms while legitimizing continued one-party rule.

Going Meta: Definition and Political Applications.

Among the most memorable encounters in recent history are those in which one political actor “went meta” to another during a high stakes, high visibility political confrontation. Maneuvers of this sort break with routines by making prior communications the subject of communication. They are thus reflexive reframings. While the potential gains from going meta may be enormous, they may also be quite risky, hence requiring a delicate sense of rhetorical balance. This essay first explicates a general conception of “going meta,” applicable to a wide variety of communicative interactions, and then brings it to bear exclusively upon political confrontations.

A dilemma‐centered analysis of Clinton's August 17th apologia: Implications for rhetorical theory and method

In his apologia following a day of grand jury testimony on August 17th, 1998 President Clinton faced a number of rhetorical dilemmas stemming from his illicit relationship with Monica Lewinsky and his subsequent, ill‐fated attempts at covering it up. This essay offers a dilemma‐centered analysis of Clintons rhetorical situation and provides an assessment of the strategic appropriateness of the speech in light of a theory of the rhetorical event. In so doing it makes frequent reference to the extensive CRTNET commentary on the speech, this both for purposes of assisting in the assessment and for illuminating problems with rhetorical theory and method.

On the rhetoric of social movements, historical movements, and “top‐down” movements: A commentary

This essay offers a commentary on the case studies of movement rhetoric by Stewart, Condit and Lucaites, Darsey, and Nelson. It proposes a modified definition of “social movement” in light of the apparent evidence of “top‐down” movements but nevertheless insists on the centrality of the variable of institutionalization in analyses of the rhetoric of social movements.

Rhetorical hermeneutics and the project of globalization

Alan G. Gross and William M. Keith (Eds.) Rhetorical Hermeneutics: Invention and Interpretation in the Age of Science. Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 1997. SUNY Series in Speech Communication. Dudley D. Cahn Jr. Editor. ISBN 0–7914–3109–6. 371 pp.

On terms, definitions and theoretical distinctiveness comments on papers by McGee and Zarefsky

This essay presents a defense of situationalist approaches to study of the rhetoric of social movements in the face of criticisms by McGee and Zarefsky.

Confrontation as a pattern of persuasion in university settings

There are a variety of factors associated with confrontation which serve to make the tactics weak in some respects, strong in others.

Judging a policy proposal by the company it keeps: The Gore‐Perot NAFTA debate

On November 9, 1993, Vice‐President Albert Gore debated Ross Perot on the subject of NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement. That Gore triumphed in the debate and succeeded thereby in winning pivotal votes in Congress for NAFTA has been widely acknowledged by the news media. The argument of this essay is that, from a rhetorical as opposed to a dialectical or logical perspective, viewer decisions to move toward the pro‐NAFTA position on the basis of judgments of source credibility in the debate were rational. The essay proposes a conception of rhetorical rationality and illustrates a method by which norms of rhetorical rationality may be derived.