The Rhetoric of Signs
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Introducing a collection of essays on the work of Kenneth Burke, Joseph Gusfield observes, “Kenneth Burke's innovative use of dramatism and dialectical method have made him a powerful critical force in an extraordinary variety of disciplines—education, philosophy, history, psychology, religion, and others.” Among these various elements of Burke’s dramatistic method the one that seems relevant to the study of everyday communication between human agents is his analysis of the importance of rhetoric in every day dialogues–as well as in other instances.
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About the Book
The Rhetoric of Signs is a collection of essays that seeks to integrate the ideas of Charles Sanders Pierce, Mikhail Bakhtin and Kenneth Burke to develop a comprehensive theory of communication. It examines how Piercian semiotics, Bakhtinian dialogism and Burke’s dramatism are used jointly in the construction of various genres of speech to achieve successful communication in both everyday interactions and in momentous international relations.
About the Author
Robert Perinbanayagam is professor of sociology (emeritus) at Hunter College, City University of New York. He has won the G. H. Mead Award and the C. H. Cooley Award from the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction and the award from the theory section of the American Sociological Association.