Reactionary rhetoric reconsidered

Abstract

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Victims of Health‐Care Reform: Hirschman's Rhetoric of Reaction in the Shadow of Federalism

“…The NPF conceives of policy narratives as possessing “a setting, a plot, characters (hero, villain, and victim), and is disseminated toward a preferred policy outcome” at three levels: micro, meso, and macro (Shanahan, Jones, & McBeth, ). The study attempts to capture an individual's narrative portrayal of victims coupled with their discussion of the values of liberty and equity and their use of one of Hirschman's rhetorical types.…”

“…The study attempts to capture an individual's narrative portrayal of victims coupled with their discussion of the values of liberty and equity and their use of one of Hirschman's rhetorical types. The NPF explicitly recognizes the import of this avenue of inquiry because “the construction of victims in policy narratives plays an important role” in mobilizing action and public opinion (Shanahan et al, ). By adding the specification of “who is [or would be] harmed” (Jones & McBeth, ; Stone, ) by a proposed solution (Jones & McBeth, ; Schneider & Ingram, ), Hirschman's rhetorical strategies can be linked with narrative strategies that seek to create affinity for a given stance toward the ACA through the use of particular characters cast in stories.…”

“…The NPF also serves to address the overemphasis on logos in Hirschman's rhetorical typology to the neglect of ethos and pathos (Shorten, ). As the NPF highlights the use of particular types of victims and their association with different values and votes on the ACA, it helps to emphasize ethos and pathos in the rhetorical system.…”

Supporters’ responses to contested trade negotiations: the European Commission’s rhetoric on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership

“…To convince the public that TTIP would harm product safety and limit the 5 Although the three theses are contradictory Hirschman's theory expressly accommodates the likelihood that their arguments can be used in the course of the same debate, sometimes even by the same person or group. Shorten (2015) has argued that Hirschman's conception of rhetoric has two limitations: first, the subject matter of rhetoric is conceived as an ex post facto rationalisation, and second, it focuses on logos. In other words, Hirschman's taxonomy assumes that supporters and opponents each have a strategy (an interest prior to the articulation of the discourse) and then try to imprint their arguments with (quasi-) logic.…”

Progressive and reactionary rhetoric in the municipal reform debate in New South Wales, Australia

“…Indeed, Hirschman (1993: 303) admitted that the motivation for his book was 'a sense of anger over the neo-conservative offensive' under Ronald Reagan, but argues that the chapter on progressive rhetoric was a providential and unintended consequence of his scholarly integrity. Yet despite his strident protestations, The rhetoric of reaction continues to attract criticism for identifying reactionaries with the political Right (see, for instance, Shorten 2015). Notwithstanding the complexities of political ideology in any one context or, indeed, more generally, in the ensuing discussion we test the claim that the typology is an 'anti-neo-conservative manifesto' by employing it in the Australian context, where a Liberal-National Party government is cast as the 'progressives'.…”