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INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedtbrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely afreet reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand corner and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Each original is also photographed in one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back of the book. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6" x 9" black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. University Microfilms international A Bell & Howell Information Company 300 N orth Z eeb Roaci Ann Arbor. Ml 48106-1346 USA 313 761-4700 800-521-0600 Order Number 9505378 A schema for the construction and assessment of messages of emp owerment Ranney, Arthur Lytle, Ph.D. The Ohio State University, 1994 UMI 300 N. Zeeb Rd. Ann Arbor, MI 48106 A SCHEMA FOR THE CONSTRUCTION AND ASSESSMENT OF MESSAGES OF EMPOWERMENT Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Arthur Lytle Ranney, B*A., M.A. ***** The Ohio State University 1994 Dissertation Committee: Approved by Sonja K. Foss Eric S. Fredin ivi ser Jessica Prinz Department of Communication To My Parents i i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Many people made the completion of this project possible. Dr. Sonja K. Foss provided unflagging support and guidance. Thanks also to Dr. Eric S. Fredin and Dr. Jessica Prinz, the other members of my dissertation committee, as well as to Dr. Thom McCain, who offered key insights. Others provided moral support and other help: Mary Rose Williams provided intellectual and emotional encouragement; Terry Monnett kept me in coffee and technical advice; and the members of Akademic Distortion grounded me. Special thanks are due to Debra Jasper, whose support and personal sacrifices were vital. Thanks also to Blue, Chloe, and Mouse; you know who you are. iii VITA June 8, 1950 ...................... Born - Cincinnati, Ohio 1987 ................................ B.A., University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio 1988 ............................... M.A., The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1988 ................................ Journalism Instructor, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1989 ................................ Journalism Instructor, Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio 1990-Present ...................... Graduate Teaching Associate, Department of Communication, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio PUBLICATIONS Acker, S. R.; & Ranney, A. L. (1991). The house of mirrors: An instructional group support system. Media and Technology for Human Resource Development, 4(1). FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: Communication iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION........................................................ ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .............................................. iii VITA .......................................................... iv CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ..................................... 1 Statement of the Problem ................. 3 Definition of Empowerment .............. 5 Method ....................................... 8 Significance of the S t u d y .............. 16 Limitations of the S t u d y ................. 17 Organization of the S t u d y .............. 18 II. DIMENSIONS OF EMPOWERMENT ...................... 20 Six Dimensions of Empowerment ......... 23 III. ANALYSIS OF A CONVERSATION WITH ROSS PEROT . 40 S u m m a r y .................................... 62 IV. ANALYSIS OF SHAME ................................ 64 S u m m a r y ....................................... 103 V. ANALYSIS OF FIGHT THE POWER L I V E ................107 S u m m a r y ....................................... 144 VI. CONCLUSION .......................................... 148 Rhetorical Construction ofEmpowerment . 156 Evaluation of Artifacts ................. 164 Utility of the S c h e m a ...................... 174 Suggestions for Future Research .... 178 APPENDICES A. DATA RELATIVE TO CHAPTER I I I .....................181 v B. DATA RELATIVE TO CHAPTER I V ....................... 193 C. DATA RELATIVE TO CHAPTER V ....................... 209 LIST OF....REFERENCES ........................................ 224 vi CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION The term empowerment is widely used in American public discourse. It appears in scholarly literature in disciplines ranging from education to feminist theory to religious studies to organizational communication. Use of the term, however, no longer is confined to the academy; the word has filtered out of the academic backwaters and entered mainstream discourse. Examples abound of the term's popular usage. The term often is used in connection with gender or feminism. Writer Joan Kennedy Taylor, for example, used it in a newspaper interview as an antidote to a so-called victim mentality: "If you're thinking of women as empowered and empowerable, rather than as victims, you can go a lot farther" (Jacobs, 1993). The Dayton Visual Arts Center, in a news release describing a dialogue session as part of an art exhibition, described a "womyn's circle" featuring two artists who will "lead open dialogue on issues of humanist/feminist/empowering solutions to divisions and separitist [sic) ideas" (Dayton Visual Arts Center, 1993). The National NOW Times, newspaper of the National 1 2 Organization for Women, declared in a headline that rights for those who are discriminated against because of sex or sexual orientation are empowering— as is marching in a rally under the eyes of a friendly Clinton administration (Corbin, 1993). Less political gender-related usages appear as well. Time (1993) offered images of female friendship--sisters posing for clothing advertisements— as an empowering trend in the fashion world. Nationally syndicated newspaper columnist Joan Beck, recently widowed, wrote that the love of her husband "empowered me to achieve" (Beck, 1993). Empowerment is not exclusively the domain of topics concerning gender, however. Political news from Mother Jones magazine, a publication that purports to give an uncensored, inside view that differs from mainstream media, is said to be "empowering" (Klein, 1993). Mainstream media, however, also are using the term. Conservative columnist George Will, for example, displeased with the curriculum in public schools, described a plan to give public schools competition and make education systems "accountable to empowered parents" (Will, 1993). The residents of subsidized housing in Dayton, Ohio, trying to take their neighborhood back from drug dealers, believe that their "residents council has gained momentum in its effort to empower tenants" (Ali, 1993). By one standard, at least, empowerment has arrived in American culture by virtue of its appearance in a Jules Feiffer cartoon. In the cartoon, Uncle Sam runs through a list of "ideals that are most spoken of in our national dialogue" and comes to the conclusion that empowerment is the dominant ideal. "Depressing, huh?" he concludes (Feiffer, 1993). The term empowerment. then, is gaining currency in the popular, written media. Empowerment is assuming importance at an everyday, practical level, and the concept is becoming a part of popular culture. Statement of the Problem In both the scholarly and popular literature, empowerment as a term crosses many boundaries, but it is used largely as if all readers will understand its meaning. Empowerment as it relates to abused spouses, however, might mean something very different from the empowerment of students who would benefit from a choice in the learning mode they use. Not only is the definition of empowerment not clear, but no means of operationalizing it in a text exists. This study is designed to address both of these issues. There are two primary purposes for this study: (1) To develop a schema that operationalizes empowerment in a text; and (2) to apply the schema to texts to discover the kinds of insights it provides into the rhetorical construction of empowerment. I am interested in the process by which a text empowers because of my commitment to the democratization of public 4 discourse. Despite the emergence of new technologies with the potential for such democratization, it often is not realized. A hierarchy most likely will continue to exist in public access to media, and those who currently are shut out of the dominant discourse--those who belong to ethnic minorities or those who lack economic clout--will continue to be excluded. Despite the emergence of the Internet, public-access channels, proliferation of the camcorder, and fiber optics that can carry more than 500 channels of information to a single household, access to this extravagance of media