Leslie Dorrough Smith

Righteous Rhetoric (eBook, ePUB)

Sex, Speech, and the Politics of Concerned Women for America

• Format: ePub

Produktbeschreibung

Scholars who study the Christian Right often claim that the movement's distinction lies in its moral absolutism and religious fervor. Through a detailed study of the sexually-charged rhetoric of one of America's largest conservative women's organizations, Concerned Women for America (CWA), Righteous Rhetoric argues that the absolute platforms for which CWA is known are not the linchpin of its political power. Rather, such absolutes are the byproduct of a more fundamental rhetorical process called "chaos rhetoric," a type of speech designed to create a heightened sense of social chaos and threat. In response, CWA is able to flexibly counter this negative emotion by crafting a positive identity for itself, shifting in ways that are politically advantageous in the tumultuous cultural contests that occur over sex, gender, and reproduction. However powerful this technique may prove, Righteous Rhetoric demonstrates that chaos rhetoric is not unique to CWA, but is a ubiquitous tactic used by almost all groups in the fight for social dominance. Where CWA and the Christian Right's true source of distinction lies is thus not in unique theologies or political tactics, but in the ability to fuse its own identity with America's most beloved symbols in such a way that its own existence is rendered inseparable from the nation's very survival.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Oxford University Press
• Seitenzahl: 250
• Erscheinungstermin: 4. März 2014
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9780199337521
• Artikelnr.: 40513478

Autorenporträt

Leslie Dorrough Smith is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies and Director of the Women's and Gender Studies Department at Avila University, Kansas City, Missouri.

Inhaltsangabe

* Table of Contents
* Acknowledgments
* I.Introduction: Chaos Rhetoric and the Public Construction of
American Morality
* II. Chapter One:
* Second Verse, Same as the First: A History of Conservative American
Sex, Gender, and Reproduction Rhetoric
* III. Chapter Two:
* The Architecture of Chaos Rhetoric: Emotion, Myth, Persuasion
* IV: Chapter Three:
* All Things to All People: CWA as True Feminism
* V. Chapter Four:
* Sex and Cultural Salvation: CWA and Nationalist Rhetoric
* VI. Chapter Five:
* Lonely Messengers?: The Ubiquity of Chaos Rhetoric
* Notes
* Bibliography
* Index