ERIC Number: ED156739
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1977-Nov-30
Pages: 25
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
The Rhetoric of Concern: Trust and Control in an Urban Desegregated School.
Slawski, Edward J.; Scherer, Jacqueline
Various sets of actors in an urban desegregated high school are found to use a rhetoric of concern to discuss school operation and events. This rhetoric is based upon the accepted understanding that schools do "what's best" for students. Since the rhetoric appeals to diverse segments of the community in which the school is located, it enables school officials to manage the conflicting demands of maintaining control and gaining the confidence of the community. The rhetoric of concern allows school people to talk about control in ways which build trust. Although this kind of language is useful in gaining a consensus, in the high school described the rhetoric is dysfunctional for dealing with the persistent problems of race relations between blacks, Spanish Americans and southern whites. (Author/GC)
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: N/A
Sponsor: National Inst. of Education (DHEW), Washington, DC.
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Note: Paper presented at the Annual Meetings of the American Anthropological Association (Houston, Texas, November 30, 1976)