Abstract
Lloyd Bitzer’s 1968 article, “The Rhetorical Situation,” reframed scholarship on communication. Prior to this, rhetorical studies primarily looked to content and style of discourse in order to provide an analysis of meaning and value; however, scholars became frustrated with the limited access that this type of framework afforded. The 1960s marked a dramatic shift in dominant rhetorical thinking from modern thought toward a realm of new ideological approaches, including postmodern thought. Environment became a major focus of postmodern communication studies, claiming that the situation, more than the content itself, determines the message. Rhetorical frameworks continue to rely on a modern or postmodern consciousness, despite the emergence of yet another societal shift into an evolved postmodernism, a reaction to the biases inherent in this relativism. Specifically, the evolution of the postmodern mind into an apathetic consciousness leads to an expiration of exigency as Bitzer defined it 50 years ago. This paper argues that current scholarship lacks a complete awareness of these new assumptions and understandings, specifically relating to cultural apathy. This paper will recount the historical context that leads into this modern framework, illustrate the situation, and argue the potential solutions. Ultimately, this paper reveals that much exigency inhabits a devalued position in the now-evolved postmodern mind, and rhetorical theory must renovate its understanding on discourse accordingly through three steps: acknowledgment, updated definitions, and thoughtful discourse.
Highlights
It is vital that communication theory adjusts for a shifting societal consciousness; operating within anachronistic frameworks renders such work nearly useless in pragmatic application
I begin by defining key terms as they apply to this paper, and I move onto the problem that faces current scholarship
The third section discusses the historical shift from Western modernism toward postmodernism in the late-mid twentieth century, and the communication scholarship alterations that became necessary under this cultural evolution
Summary
It is vital that communication theory adjusts for a shifting societal consciousness; operating within anachronistic frameworks renders such work nearly useless in pragmatic application. Western society is inundated with a surplus of exigence so that these occurrences lose their value and Bitzer’s model becomes obsolescent. This paper will argue that a rise in Western societal apathy, an indication of an evolved postmodernism, limits our engagement with contemporary issues, blinding us to exigences that arise. The third section discusses the historical shift from Western modernism toward postmodernism in the late-mid twentieth century, and the communication scholarship alterations that became necessary under this cultural evolution. The section focuses on how Bitzer defined “exigence” as he wrote into this new postmodern theory, and why his definition is no longer viable. I offer some reasoning for the state of cultural apathy, and move into examples of such lethargy, revealing the expiration of exigency
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