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Rhetoric as Praxis: A Model for Deconstructing Hermeneutic Discourse (open access)

Rhetoric as Praxis: A Model for Deconstructing Hermeneutic Discourse

This study proposes a model for the deconstruction of nationalism. Nationalism is a discursive construct. This construct manifests in ideologies and formalizes order. Individuals should question these institutions in order to achieve legitimate societal participation. This criticism can be accomplished through self-reflection. The model demonstrates that sanctioned individual(s) provide interpretations of events. These interpretations recycle authority. The hermeneutic obscures an individual's understanding of the originating fact. Self-reflection allows an individual, such as Malcolm X in the Nation of Islam, to come closer to discovering the original fact. Critiquing the hermeneutic can reveal the imperfections of the message(s). Revealing the imperfections of an ideology is the first step to the liberation of the individual and society.
Date: August 1993
Creator: James, Edwin M. (Edwin Martin)
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Impact of Corporate Interlocks on Power and Constraint in the Telecommunications Industry (open access)

The Impact of Corporate Interlocks on Power and Constraint in the Telecommunications Industry

Using the tools of structural and network analysis developed by Ronald R. Burt and others, this study investigated the communication patterns among corporate officers of American Telephone and Telegraph Corporation (A.T. & T.) and United Telecommunications Corporation (Sprint). Data on contacts, efficiency, network density, and constraint indicate that opportunities for power and constraint have remained relatively stable at United Telecommunications between 1980 and 1990. A. A.T. & T., on the other hand, was more affected by the drastic changes in the telecommunication industry. The span of A.T. & T. has grown smaller and the potential for constraining relations among A. T. & T. and financial institutions has increased during the period 1980 and 1990.
Date: December 1992
Creator: Hickerson, Jon D. (Jon David)
System: The UNT Digital Library
Network Analysis of the Symmetric and Asymmetric Patterns of Conflict in an Organization (open access)

Network Analysis of the Symmetric and Asymmetric Patterns of Conflict in an Organization

Missing from extant conflict literature is an examination of both symmetric and asymmetric conflict ties. To address this void, network analysis was utilized to examine the responses (both symmetric and asymmetric conflict ties) of 140 employees and managers in four divisions of a large agency of the Federal Government. The study was limited to conflict over scarce resources. Conflict management methods were examined as well as the perceptions of how respondents both cope with and feel about conflict. The results indicate that when two people in a conflict setting are structurally equivalent they both report actions and feelings that are opposite from those of- the other person. This finding, an inverse contagion effect, has been termed diffusion resistance.
Date: May 1993
Creator: Helt, Kimberly M. (Kimberly Mae)
System: The UNT Digital Library