Deconstructing Gender Differences in Persuasibility: A Bricolage

Abstract

The study of persuasion long has been a central preoccupation of communication theorists and critics. As a cornerstone in communication theory. persuasion research has provided the impetus for inquiries into how symbolic behavior effects social and personal change. A number of metatheoretical issues have emerged from empirical studies of gender and persuasibility that are of concern to feminist theorists. Scott (1988) argues that poststructural theory, or deconstruction. is an avenue for understanding how traditions of (Western) philosophy have systematically and repeatedly construed the world hierarchically in terms of masculine universals and feminine specificities (p. 33). Scott contends that such a construction has put a on our thinking about gender and behavior (p. 33). Research on gender and persuasibility suffers from this conceptual hold and is ripe for deconstruction to bring about alternative ways for communication theorists to think about the relationship between gender and persuasibility. The following analysis focuses specifically on persuasive messages and attitude change rather than the general concept of influenceability which entails compliance, agreement, conformity, and related ideas.