COMM1001 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Invisible Hand, Nazi Propaganda, Kairos
31 May 2018
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COMM1001
NOTES
Lecture 1: Intro 28 Feb, 2017
•persuasion: the person who controls communication, controls the world! We can use communication to
motivate and inspire change!
•it is involved in:
•advertising
•public relations
•consumer and market research
•diplomacy
•speechwriting
•consulting
•Expression: to bring something original into the world! to reveal ourselves and our humanity
•it is involved in:
•digital media production
•web design
•game design
•creative writing
•mass media production
•publishing
•art design
•Reason: good communication can solve the worlds problems! It helps us understand each other, and ourselves.
•it is involved:
•journalism
•public service
•education
•communication management
•legal services
•management
•research
•Mediated communication: how technology has affected the process of communication.
Week 2: Broad introduction to persuasive
communication
•persuasive communication is goal oriented (pre-determined)
communication
•thats is, it seeks to have an effect upon the receiver
•this is usually seen in advertising, pr campaigns, speeches
•Aristotle: audience + purpose = style + delivery {DIFFERENT}
•different spaces have different discourses
•ceremony
•american mode of communication, the major focus is on effect
•start backwards on the model when constructing a persuasive text, think about audience first and their
motivations (not your own)
DISCOURSES AND POWER, THE USES AND ABUSES OF MEANING
•the meanings of signs is arbitrary,THERE IS NO RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TINGS, AND THE WORDS AND
MEANINGS WE ASSOCIATE BETWEEN THEM, the way we read signs is not
•Communal power
•what is a discourse?
•why do discourses have power?
•why knowledge is power
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WHAT IS A DISCOURSE?
•a discourse is a language paradigm (internal inconsistent set) which reflects the ideological patterns of our
interpretive community
•a language is a type of discourse (it has its particular words, slang, etc. they make us belong to that culture),
Both languages are english however, they are constructed around different ideas
•there is a scientific discourse (experiments, hypothesis etc,)
•a news discourse (speaking with authority)
•a religious discourse (faith, belief, morality)
•advertising discourse (never talk to your friends how advertising talks to you, because we aren't apart of it)
•a romantic discourse and so on (codes in relationships)
•discourses define, describe, delimit what is possible to say (and by extension what is possible to do or not to
do) with respect to the area of concern of that institution
•the words being used in writing can choose what matters, what discourse is being explored
•not just about the words, about the space, mannerism, status, dress
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WHY DO DISCOURSES HAVE POWER?
•Our reality is defined as ‘what we can all agree on’, the meaning that we all share is intrinsically the bond that
fixes our reality (e.g if everybody is calling a chair a table then that is the reality, even though it might morph
their sense of what is real, the association of names and the things, what we agree on is the most powerful)
-‘what we can all agree on’ is defined by what we all hold in common,
-Which is determined by (and determines) language and communication
-‘Institutions’ hold more sway over how we interpret signs
-For instance, Benedict Anderson has used this argument to suggest that national communities are based
upon a common interpretive community developed through newspapers. (the languages we use are shaped by the
news that we share, and the nations we are in are shaped by the languages we use), the things we have in
common define us and define what we can and cannot do
-‘…from the start, the nation was conceived in language, not in blood’ (Anderson 1991, 145)
•Language provides names for categories, and so helps to set their boundaries and relationships; and discourse
allows these names to be spoken and written frequently, so contributing to the apparent and currency of the
categories. (Fowler 1991, 93)
-‘It is in words and language [communication] that things first come into being and are’ (Heidegger 1961, p.
11)
-In other words, the discourses we engage with define our understanding of the world
•Any struggle over power is therefore a struggle over control of language and communication, the way we
interpret the world is through the tools we are given to see the world, e.g. what google says goes
FOUCAULT - KNOWLEDGE/POWER ARE THE SAME THING!
•foucault insists that power resides in ones ability to understand and manipulate discourses
•there is no power without knowledge to back it up
•this lies in the ability to know what things mean to people and understand how those meanings can be
effectively negotiated.
•he also suggested we give power to discourses by accepting them (e.g. gils stop shaving their legs)
•and take power from them by critiquing them and/or appropriating them for our own needs. Individuals can
critique and challenge it, change the discourse
•think about the role of your university degree in this context
CONCLUSION
•while signs have no intrinsic meaning, we tend to attach meaning to them within given systems
•these systems of meaning are also called discourses
•discourses reflect the effects of power on language and communication
•being familiar with discourses allows you to use those discourses in a way that makes you powerful
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Week 3: Rhetoric
•one of the oldest forms of study
•greeks
•ability to use words cleverly was enough to accrue political power and change civilisation
•the art of communication
CHARACTERISTICS OF RHETORIC
•using the best available means to persuade somebody
•aristotle, first theorist to define rhetoric, coming up with the three sections of rhetoric
•relying on one of the many
•pathos- argument based on emotion (referring to a common emotion, motivating people by emotion, passion
and feeling, tapping into their emotions is incredibly motivating)
•logos- argument based on reason (using logic, stringing together a string of logical conclusions and making
people believe they are so)
•ethos- argument based on status, position, power (validity claim based on personal reputation, easier for e.g.
the prime minister to be persuasive [people in positions of power are more believable])
•from Aristotle- the first communications theorist
•the best available means is whatever is going to cause your audience to act in the way you want it to
•remember this means thinking about, and understanding your audiences discourse and motivations
•cautionary notes about your letter…choose right audience and purpose
•identify audience and style carefully
•must understand who they are and what motivates them
•really need to understand your audience
•specific goals and audiences (e.g. convincing your friend to do something)
•the more you can hone in on a particular audience and goal, the more successful nnnn
HOW TO USE RHETORIC
•Audience + purpose = style/delivery
•consider the time and situation (kairos), matter because the time can really matter, e.g. advertising food at lunch
time
•and the sense of ‘decorum’ (what can you say without starting to sound ridiculous and loosing credibility,
understanding of discourse, cant be too passionate unless you are really passionate about it, cant say too much)
•simple rhetoric - the carrot and stick approach
•provide incentives for compliance (this is why you should do what i want you to do…this is what will happen if
you don't)
•and warn against non compliance
•appeal to:
•pathos - options such as fear, envy, love
•logos - accepted truths and powerful discourses
•ethos - personal legitimacy, power and institutionalised value
•use a style that
•suits your purpose (plain style/middle/grand style)
•presents your position as eloquently and effectively as possible
•plain: pathos, relies on establishing that the people are just like you, similarity makes it seem more real, same
level as the audience, the same interests, not trying to trick you example: Bunnings ad, Aussie accents, not
looking at the camera, normal people, just like you
•middle: logos, educational and logical, speaker does have more info than you and they are trying to help you,
scientific processes, i should listen and learn example: trying to teach someone
•grand/high: ethos, saying something remarkable, deep, profound and rambious, emotional appeals, trying to
say something bigger than ever before example: uses poetry and creativity, requires theatrics and
knowledge of topic
Example: Pauline Hansen, Convincing her to set up a tinder profile
•understanding her as an audience, single mum, lonely, busy
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Document Summary
28 feb, 2017: tale. harper@uwa. edu. au, persuasion: the person who controls communication, controls the world! It helps us understand each other, and ourselves: it is involved, journalism, public service, education, communication management, legal services, management, research, mediated communication: how technology has affected the process of communication. Discourses and power, the uses and abuses of meaning: the meanings of signs is arbitrary,there is no relationship between tings, and the words and. Meanings we associate between them, the way we read signs is not: communal power, what is a discourse, why do discourses have power, why knowledge is power. What is a discourse: a discourse is a language paradigm (internal inconsistent set) which re ects the ideological patterns of our. Notes interpretive community: a language is a type of discourse (it has its particular words, slang, etc. they make us belong to that culture),
