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Publication THE BACKSTORY: THE POWER OF PAST LIVED EXPERIENCES AND COMMUNICATION WITHIN INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS(University of Kansas, 2019-12-31) Vellinga, Haley ChristineABSTRACT Research on the public’s stigmatizing attitudes toward individuals with alcohol- and substance-use disorders is well-documented, but researchers are increasingly focused on how those public attitudes are constructed and sustained. The current study seized the opportunity to better understand the phenomena of stigmatized backstory communication as it relates to the lived experiences of substance and alcohol users. Specifically, this study addressed the following overarching research question: how are stigmatized individuals’ backstories discursively manifest? Informed by a constructivist grounded theory approach, analyses of 20 interviews with individuals who self-identified with alcohol-use disorder (AUD) and/or substance-use disorder (SUD) revealed that their stigmatized backstory communication was constituted by four major themes: (1) denial, (2) the dark side, (3) oscillation, and (4) discretionary disclosure. These themes reveal both the content and process of backstory as a communication phenomenon. The findings highlight the need to engage substance and alcohol users in the national, master narrative of addiction, and also provide a new theoretical perspective for interpersonal scholars. Several practical applications are also offered to help relational partners, friends, and others, to provide support for substance and alcohol users.Publication Making Mandingo: Racial Archetypes, Pornography, and Black Male Subjectivity(University of Kansas, 2019-12-31) Samuels, Phillip D.Mandingo is a reference to a longstanding myth in American culture, that black men have an unquenchable desire for white woman. I will argue that Mandingo is an example of a racial archetype. Racial archetypes are specific images of a long-standing stereotypes. Mandingo is one such archetype. Mandingo conjures up an entire history of the rhetoric of miscegenation. For some it is the excitement of the big black cock (BBC) and crossing the color line, but for most blacks it invokes images of lynching, slavery, and police brutality brought on by the fear of black men while at the same time trafficking in a prurient landscape of American racial and sexual relations. Whether through words, pictures or movies, the Mandingo has become a dominant archetype in the pantheon of the African American experience. Charting the Mandingo emergence and articulation is critical project to discern how these rhetorical markers are part of a larger mythic narrative. With this in mind, I am interested in the ways in which competing racial and gendered myths and archetypes emerge and circulate within the semi-public rhetorical space of pornography. The image of the well-hung black man circulates through all forms of Western media; print, photograph, televisual, and digital. These images fill a particular void in the American racial narrative because it gives the public a framework to understand and decode black maleness with very real consequences.Publication Delayed Childbearing, Relational Influences, and Workplace Outcomes(University of Kansas, 2019-12-31) Ross, ElainaGuided by the Circumplex Model of Family Functioning (Olson, Sprenkle, & Russell, 1979), this study examined women’s perceptions of their decision to delay childbearing as well as perceptions of personal fulfillment through motherhood, family functioning, and work and relational outcomes. These perceptions were tested using survey data from 250 women whose oldest child was no older than 5 years, was currently married to the child’s biological father, was working when the child was born and was currently working, was part of a dual-earning household, and was between the ages of 30-45. Findings indicate that participants considered a number of personal and professional reasons to delay childbearing, which highlights the individual and personal nature of choosing to have a child. Although it was hypothesized to have a relationship with all workplace and relational outcomes, only personal fulfillment through motherhood and relational commitment yielded a significant relationship. In examining family functioning as a mediating variable between personal fulfillment through motherhood, as well as relational and workplace outcomes, no significant indirect effects emerged, although there were several significant direct effects. Cohesion was significantly related to job satisfaction, workplace productivity, commitment, and divorce proneness, while adaptability was significantly related to job satisfaction, affective commitment, commitment, and divorce proneness. This study highlights the importance of healthy family functioning for new parents in both personal and professional domains, as well as the need to support new mothers at work and in the home.Publication The Tea Party Movement and Entelechy: an Inductive Study of Tea Party Rhetoric(University of Kansas, 2019-12-31) Price, John LeylandOn February 19, 2009, CNBC journalist Rick Santelli’s fiery outburst against the Obama Administration on national television gave the Tea Party Movement (TPM) its namesake. Soon after rallies were organized across the U.S. under the Tea Party banner. From its inception in 2009, the TPM became an essential player in U.S. politics and pivotal in flipping control of the Senate and House to the Republican Party during the 2010 midterm elections. The movement faced controversy on both sides of the political spectrum for its beliefs and fervent stance against compromising with political adversaries. Researchers argued that the TPM was an example of Richard Hofstadter’s Paranoid Style. Others claimed that the movement’s rhetoric, member demographics, and political success demonstrated it was outside the boundaries of the Paranoid Style. To better understand the nature of the TPM, this project conducted an inductive study of TPM rhetoric from 2009-2013. By using texts from TPM speeches as well as TPM bloggers and commenters online, this study examined the rhetorical development of the movement and its symbolic trajectory. It was found that TPM advocates relied on a myth of return, which portrayed the movement as being the voice of the silent majority and representative of the founding values of America. While the themes and examples used by the movement changed over the years, the overarching message continued to focus on an us versus them mentality. Overall, the symbolic trajectory of the TPM raises questions about the typically adaptive nature of social movements and suggests that the TPM became entelechialized early in its development and throughout 2009-2013.Publication Navigating Ambiguous Negativity: A Case Study of Twitch.tv Live Chats(University of Kansas, 2019-12-31) Mihailova, Teodora MihailovaThe popular gaming-oriented platform Twitch.tv, which offers video game fans an online space to interact by sharing and viewing gameplay and participating in live chats, is faced with the problem of online negativity alongside all of gaming culture. The content of live chat interaction has been explored on a larger scale, using rules from computer-mediated communication to classify behaviors such as spam and capital letters as negative. The current study used a nuanced qualitative look at particular user communities and the intersection between their descriptive and injunctive community norms and the use of ambiguous negativity, or interactions whose valence is not unanimously understood because communities have their own sets of meanings and rules that can be misunderstood by outsiders. Based on a study of systematic recordings of chats and streams of the Dark Souls game series, ambiguous negativity is prevalent and includes behaviors like cursing, game jargon, banter, spam and sarcasm. True negativity and hostility are rare, but they exist and manifest as usage of exclusionary language and banter gone too far. Despite its infrequency, clear negativity can shape the way people experience these communities. The role community members are to assume in responding or not responding to negativity is often not clearly defined by community norms.Publication Hispanic/Latino(a) Immigrant Acculturation and U.S. American Native English Speakers’ Intergroup Perceptions and Attitudes: Accommodation, Social Attraction, and Anxiety(University of Kansas, 2019-08-31) Montgomery, Gretchen PatriceGuided by communication accommodation theory (CAT; Giles, 1970, 2016) and the acculturation framework (Berry, 1980, 2011), this study used a 3 (social attributions: positive, negative, neutral) x 4 (accommodation/acculturation strategies) experimental design to explore English-speaking, U. S. participants’ judgments of and behavioral intentions toward nonnative- English-speaking immigrant targets. The immigrant target’s cultural and linguistic adaptation strategies were manipulated to create four accommodation/acculturation strategies: high accommodation/assimilation, accommodation/integration, nonaccommodation/separation, nonaccommodation/marginalization. Analysis explored the main and interaction effects of the independent variable conditions, as well as the indirect effect of these conditions on willingness to communicate with and accommodate to the target through perceived accommodation, social attraction, and intergroup communication anxiety. Overall, the target’s accommodation/acculturation strategy significantly affected participants’ inferences about the target’s motives, as well as their judgments of and willingness to engage the target, and their intergroup perceptions of the target’s ethnolinguistic group. As expected, more assimilative and accommodative communicative and linguistic behaviors were associated with more positive participant responses than the nonaccommodative and separated and marginalized targets. The main effects of the social attribution conditions, as well as the social attribution by accommodation/acculturation interaction effect, was non-significant. Theoretically, the current study advances intergroup and intercultural communication research by demonstrating the complementary functions of both communication accommodation theory and the acculturation framework. Incorporating CAT into the acculturation framework illuminates the ways in which variations in the degree of psychological identification with home and host cultures may be manifest in communication behaviors. The current study also contributes to the theoretical development of inferred motive, extending this construct into an otherwise unstudied context between native and nonnative English speakers. Lastly, the indirect effects of perceived accommodation, social attraction, and intergroup communication anxiety suggest mechanisms through which interactions between native and nonnative English speakers can be improved.Publication Gazing at the Golden Age: The Role of Perspective in Counter-Memorial Display(University of Kansas, 2019-08-31) SMITH, ELIZABETH MILLERHow does the traveling museum exhibition 1001 Inventions design memories of the Golden Age of Islam to counter Islamophobia in the modern world? The Golden Age of Islam occurred centuries ago but is still a potent rhetorical force; I seek to understand how counter-memories of this era have been used to re-shape current image of Islam, particularly in the West. I also examine the role perspective plays in the rhetorical construction and circulation of countermemory. With American politicians pushing a ban on Muslim immigration, European nations closing their borders to Muslim refugees, and struggles within the Muslim community over the true nature of Islam, it is crucial that rhetoricians examine how different memories have been used to legitimate various ideologies about Islam. To answer this question, I analyze the 1001 Inventions exhibit and its companion book using the concept of perspective as used by Kenneth Burke and Donna Haraway, as well as Michel Foucault’s idea of counter-memory. I explain how 1001 Inventions designs memories of the Golden Age to depict Islam as scientific and tolerant. My analysis shows how the exhibit uses Burkean metaphor, metonymy, and synecdoche to display a situated, embodied perspective on the Golden Age. It also shows how the exhibit counters anti-Islam discourse and what Bruno Latour would call a “modern” viewpoint by merging past and present, Islam and the West, and religion and science. However, because it emphasizes merger over division, this exhibit reifies a Western narrative of progress and essentializes Islam. These mergers create rhetorical footholds for critics to maintain a sharp divide between past and present, Islam and the West, and religion and science. I conclude that had the exhibit been designed using Burkean irony, offering a perspective of perspectives on the Golden Age, it would have inoculated itself against Islamophobic pushback, blunted criticism, and presented a more robust counter-memorial account of an historical era worth remembering.Publication Group Membership, Content Valence, and Stereotype Agreement: Testing the Effects of Jokes and Asian Stereotypes(University of Kansas, 2019-12-31) Xing, ChongGuided by the theories of social identity (Tajfel & Turner, 1979; Turner, Hogg, Oakes, Re- icher, Wetherell, 1987) and intergroup contact (Allport, 1954; McIntyre, Paolini, Hewstone, 2016; Pettigrew, 1998; Pettigrew & Tropp, 2006; Williams, 1947), this study examines stereotype jokes about Asian Americans and stereotype agreement from Caucasian Americans’ perspectives. Sit- uated in the context of standup comedy, two factors were experimentally manipulated using a 2 × 2 within-subjects design: the racial group membership of the comedian (Asian/White) and the content valence of the joke (negative/positive stereotype). Four written scripts based on standup comedy routines and mass media messages were used for the experimental manipulations. These scripts are also in line with common stereotypes identified in prior empirical studies about Asian sojourners and immigrants in the United States (i.e., success driven and bad drivers). Data collection was conducted using Qualtrics online survey system. Following participants exposure to each of the four joke scenarios (randomly ordered), five dependent variables were measured: funniness and offensiveness of the joke, interpersonal anxiety toward the comedian, intergroup anxiety toward Asian Americans as a group, and level of agreement with the stereotype presented in the joke. Responses from 227 Amazon Mechanical Turk participants were collected. Following data screening, the final sample for data analysis was 220 (54 with missing values; 166 with complete responses). Analysis results from an univariate multilevel modeling approach (Bates, Mächler, Bolker, & Walker, 2015) showed that Caucasian American participants’ least preferred (most offensive) sce- nario was a White comedian telling a negative-stereotype (bad drivers) joke about Asian Americans (βmarginal = 4.421, p < .001). The most positively rated (least offensive) scenario was Asian Amer- ican comedian telling the positive-stereotype (success driven) joke (βmarginal = 2.825, p < .001). Furthermore, the participants rated Asian comedian telling a negative-stereotype joke to be the funniest (βmarginal = 4.513, p < .001) comparing to White comedian telling a negative-stereotype joke (least funny; βmarginal = 3.596, p < .001). Further analyses using a Bayesian multivariate multilevel approach (Bürkner, 2017; Carpenter et al., 2017) were conducted to examine potential mediation processes in between comedian group membership and stereotype agreement and in between content valence and stereotype agreement. Analysis results showed first-stage mediation effects of joke offensiveness (negative) and inter- personal anxiety (positive) between comedian group membership and stereotype agreement. In addition, two two-stage mediation processes were found: 1) from comedian group membership to stereotype agreement through interpersonal anxiety (positive) and intergroup anxiety (positive); and 2) from comedian group membership to stereotype agreement through joke offensiveness (pos- itive) and interpersonal anxiety (positive). For the potential mediation processes between content valence and stereotype agreement, anal- ysis results showed first-stage partial mediation effect of joke funniness (positive) between the two. A two-stage partial mediation process was found from content valence to stereotype agree- ment through joke offensiveness (positive) and interpersonal anxiety (positive). While accounting for the mediation paths, content valence still had a direct effect on stereotype agreement that the participants showed a higher level of agreement with the positive stereotype (Asian Americans are success driven) than with the negative stereotype (Asian Americans are bad drivers). The study findings are discussed in light of social identity, intergroup contact, racial discourse norms, and standup comedy as a means for stereotype agreement reduction. Theoretical implica- tions and contextual interpretations are addressed. Future research directions on stereotype humor in standup comedy and other communicative contexts are offered.Publication Critical moments in the German resistance movement: A dramatistic analysis(University of Kansas, 1975-05-31) Enholm, Donald K.Publication The effects of human relations training on WASPS (White's Attitudes and Self-concept Perceptions)(University of Kansas, 1973-05-31) Carter, JudyThis study attempts to analyze the effects of human relations training on self-concept and attitudes of whites toward others with whom they interact. Two aspects of human relations training are reviewed in order to provide the reader with a better understanding of these effects. First, the history of human relations training as it relates to social action issues is surveyed. Second, the goals and meta-goals of human relations training are identified and explained.Publication Juror perceptions of witness credibility as a function of linguistic and nonverbal power(University of Kansas, 1992-05-31) Lisko, Karen Ohnemus.While the effects of linguistic power on witness credibility in the courtroom as well as preliminary studies of the effects of nonverbal power on witness credibility have been studied, no research has focussed on manipulations of linguistic and nonverbal power together. For purposes of greater generalizability, the effect of different manipulations of linguistic power and nonverbal power in witness testimony is studied in this dissertation. Subjects viewed one of four videotaped versions of combined linguistic power/nonverbal power testimony and rated the witness's credibility. Through factor analysis and multivariate analysis of variance, the results showed that subjects rated the witness to be more credible in the following conditions: (1) when the witness used powerful linguistic/powerful nonverbal testimony versus powerless linguistic/powerless nonverbal testimony; (2) when the witness used powerful linguistic/powerful nonverbal testimony versus mixed testimonial styles; (3) when the witness used powerful nonverbal/powerless linguistic testimony versus powerless nonverbal/powerful linguistic testimony. Significant main effects were found for the powerful nonverbal condition. Preliminary gender findings suggest that the male witness was more credible overall. Interpretation of the findings, discussion of limitations of the study, and suggestions for further research are addressed.Publication Fighting for a Cause: How Conflict Can Produce Interdependence(University of Kansas, 2019-05-31) Dominguez, JessInterdependence theory (Kelley & Thibaut, 1978) illustrates the impact of partners’ behaviors as relational outcomes are dependent on such behavior. This thesis project aimed to contribute to interdependence theory by considering the influence conflict could have on its development in romantic relationships. Using a longitudinal design, the goal was to examine the change of interdependence factors (i.e., commitment, satisfaction, CLalt, power mutuality) by specific conflict variables like intensity and management responses (i.e., exit-voice-loyalty-neglect model). Time 1 (N = 135) indicated that satisfaction and the CLalt are significant predictors of commitment , which supports past research (Le & Agnew, 2003; Rusbult et al., 1998; Rusbult & Van Lange, 2003). Time 2 (N = 52) analyses demonstrated that exit behaviors and conflict intensity can produce significant changes in interdependence factors. Significant findings offer further implications for how the transformation of motivation (Kelley & Thibaut, 1978; Rusbult & Buunk, 1993) can influence interdependence in established romantic relationships. Null findings offer interesting areas of future work on conflict in romantic relationships and theoretical development for interdependence theory.Publication Baseball, Rituals, and the American Dream: An Analysis of the Boston Red Sox’s Response to the Boston Marathon Bombing(University of Kansas, 2019-05-31) Bajorek, Benton JamesIn April 2013, the Tsarnaev brothers placed two homemade bombs near the finish line of the Boston Marathon. This attack created a need for healing the city’s spirit and the Boston Red Sox played an essential role in the city’s recovery as the team invited victims and first responders to pregame ceremonies throughout the season to participate in ritualistic pregame ceremonies. This thesis examines the Red Sox first home game after the bombing and argues that ritualistic pregame ceremonies craft conditions for performing national citizenship identity by calling upon mythic belief systems to warrant norms of citizenship performance.Publication PROMOTING SEXUAL PURITY IN A CALL-OUT CULTURE ERA: ONE PURITY MOVEMENT LEADER’S STRATEGIES IN NAVIGATING CRITIQUES OF THE #METOO/#CHURCHTOO MOVEMENTS(University of Kansas, 2019-05-31) Crouse-Dick, ChristineWhile a sizable body of research has examined the impact of purity movement rhetoric on its target audience (e.g., Bearman & Brückner, 2001; Brückner & Bearman, 2005; DeRogatis, 2015; di Mauro & Joffe, 2009; Diefendorf, 2015; Doan & Williams, 2008; Freitas, 2008; Gardner, 2011; Gish, 2016; Kieser, 2014; Klein, 2018; Lord, 2010; Manning, 2015; Moslener, 2015; Price, 2011; Regnerus, 2007; Rosenbaum, 2009; Schermer Sellers, 2017; Williams, 2011), to date, no studies have explored purity leaders’ responses to critiques of the movement. In this project, I explore communication tactics one purity movement leader uses to respond to criticism of purity movement teachings during the rise of the #MeToo and #ChurchToo movements. Using a multimethod crystallized approach (Ellingson, 2009), I conducted ethnographic participant observation; in-depth, semi-structured interviews; and analyses of blog posts, formal and informal speeches and interviews, social media posts, and several best-selling books. All data were analyzed via an inductive and iterative process, and open and axial coding was employed to identify dominant strategies that Dannah Gresh uses to mitigate criticism (Glaser & Strauss, 1967; Strauss & Corbin, 1998). Results suggest that Gresh exercises a four-part system of strategies (which I call a “Framework of Strategic Curation”) to mollify critiques directed toward her role within the movement: (1) curated erudition, (2) curated imperfection, (3) curated moderation, and (4) curated deflection. The findings imply that while Dannah Gresh does respond to critiques, her responses are curated in such a way as to reinforce and bolster the same messages she has promoted for the duration of her ministry and that any content-level changes she makes are largely cosmetic in nature.Publication THE RHETORIC OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN PROFESSIONAL SPORTS: GENDER, RACE, AND WHITE HEGEMONIC MASCULINITY(University of Kansas, 2019-05-31) Chase, Alexandria RViolence, specifically gendered violence, has seemingly become commonplace in professional sports. In recent years, sports and news media have navigated a storm of violence allegations. For example, Larry Nassar, former Michigan State University and USA Gymnastics doctor, was accused of sexually abusing hundreds of patients and convicted of seven of counts of criminal sexual misconduct. The extent of the abuse Nassar was accused of reignited conversations about gender, power, and violence in sports. This dissertation addresses one aspect of gendered violence in sports: domestic violence. The following is a sampling of news stories from the last year alone that document professional athletes accused of domestic violence: catcher Derek Norris of the Detroit Tigers, linebacker Reuben Foster of the San Francisco 49er’s, center Willie Reed of the Detroit Pistons, WWE wrestler Rich Swann, and boxer Jermell Charlo. There are countless other cases that could be mentioned in addition to a number of cases of officials, coaches, CEO’s, and teams owners allegedly committing domestic violence. This project seeks to understand how sports media – journalists, commentators, and fans – contribute to broader cultural understandings of domestic violence. I investigate what this discourse tells us about sex, gender, race, and class as they relate to domestic violence as well as the challenges this rhetoric might pose to a progressive political agenda to end gendered violence. Using Ray Rice and Hope Solo as case studies, I perform a critical replay – a feminist critical cultural investigation of domestic violence in sports that follows linkages in conversations about sports and violence – to uncover the ways sports fans, journalists, and casual consumers of news construct a narrative of domestic violence in professional sports.Publication The rhetoric of United States Marine Corps enlisted recruitment: a historical study and analysis of the persuasive approach utilized(University of Kansas, 1974-05-31) Rutledge, Gary L.This thesis concerns itself with the rhetorical approach utilized by the United States Marine Corps to persuade men to enlist voluntarily. This thesis is a historical tracing of the rhetorical approach used by the Marine Corps in recruitment. This tracing relates the rhetoric to the presence or absence of a national level war and/or the presence or absence of a conscription system such as the draft. The study is limited to that rhetoric which is aimed at the recruitment of enlisted men and women. In summary, this thesis treats the rhetorical approach utilized in United States Marine Corps posters/billboard advertising from 1775 to 1973. It also explores the relationship of the rhetorical approach to the presence or absence of war and/or a conscription system.Publication Anime Fandom in Convergence Culture: A Uses and Gratification Approach to Chinese Fan Producers(University of Kansas, 2018-05-31) Yi, Erika JunhuiIn the current media environment known as media convergence, technology has provided fans multiple tools and platforms through which to create and publish their fan works online as well as to draw on fan works and connect with other fans. Anime fans in China have taken advantage of these sophisticated technologies to generate and circulate anime and its related fan products. Due to State control over mainstream media in China, Chinese anime fans have assumed a more active and important role in the distribution of these media contents, making active Chinese anime fan producers an interesting case to examine how media convergence influences fans’ activities and how fans use technologies to satisfy their needs for media consumption. Using Uses and Gratification theory, this project explored the gratifications Chinese anime fan producers reported during their fan production process. This study focused on exploring the connections between the affordances emerging from media convergence and media gratifications reported by fan producers, reflecting both gratifications identified in the literature and newly-identified gratifications. In addition, the project addressed the shifting relationships among fans, media producers, and out-group members in the participatory fandom culture. This study makes four contributions. It enriches U&G theory by identifying and categorizing gratifications in this contemporary international context; it contributes to the conversation on media convergence and active audience; it provides insiders' view on relationship tensions within and surrounding fan communities; and it makes suggestions for media industry participants as they approach active fans and their fan works.Publication Cultural variables that affect communication in business encounters between Southern Africans and Americans(University of Kansas, 1994-05-31) Zulu, RashidThe primary purpose of this study was to determine cultural variables that affect communication encounters between Southern African and American entrepreneurs. Cultural variables, as cited by Dodd (1977), include attitudes, social organization, thought patterns, world view, concept of time, and role prescription, have also been noted by authorities in cross-cultural communication such as Asuncion-Lande (1989), Harris and Moran (1987), and Samovar & Porter (1976). These variables are considered to be the primary factors that contribute to miscommunication between people of different cultural backgrounds. Fifteen business persons were interviewed for this study, ten from Southern Africa (Tanzania and Zambia) and five from America. Each subject was interviewed for approximately forty to sixty minutes. The interview was designed to elicit information concerning their business communication experiences. A content analysis of the data was applied. This study found that there are cultural barriers that impinge on effective communication between the Southern African and American entrepreneurs. The study suggests that entrepreneurs who intend to engage in international business in Southern Africa stand to benefit by learning the other's cultural backgrounds. By doing so, it may enhance their perceptions of each other and lead to more effective communication between them.Publication International Students’ Acculturation and Attitudes Toward Americans as a Function of Communication and Relational Solidarity with their Most Frequent American Contact(University of Kansas, 2018-08-31) RISTIC, IGORThe current study was guided by the theoretical frameworks of Intergroup Contact Theory (Pettigrew, 1998), Acculturation (Berry, 1997), and the Common Ingroup Identity Model (Gaertner & Dovidio, 2000). Using the PROCESS models on mediation analysis (Hayes, 2013), this cross-sectional survey tested three research hypotheses that predicted significant indirect effects of international students’ (N = 233) contact quantity and quality with U.S. American students on their affective, behavioral, and cognitive attitudes towards U.S. Americans through the sequential mediators of relational solidarity and identification with U.S. culture. Findings supported all the hypotheses. In addition, the indirect effects of contact on attitudes were significant through identification with U.S. culture as a single mediator. Furthermore, the direct effect of contact quality on behavioral attitudes was significant. Implications for scholars and practitioners, and suggestions for future research, are discussed in light of prior literature on intergroup contact, acculturation, and common ingroup identity.Publication Government is the problem: Symbolic trajectories of the contemporary conservative movement(University of Kansas, 2018-08-31) Eisenstadt, MichaelThe rightward shift of the contemporary conservative movement represents one of the most significant developments in American culture and politics over the last forty years. While numerous studies in rhetoric have tackled case studies of specific events, speeches, and texts, there is not yet a longitudinal study that traces the symbolic developments of the conservative movement over this period. In this dissertation, I fill that gap in rhetorical studies by arguing that the contemporary conservative movement was entelechialized by a limited government worldview, leading conservative Republicans to refuse compromise even when that refusal posed grave political risks. In four case studies, I analyze a number of key influences on the symbolic trajectories of the conservative movement, including Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, Newt Gingrich, Patrick Buchanan, and contemporary conservative opinion media.