Symbolic form, Burkean scapegoating, and rhetorical exigency in Alioto's response to the “Zebra” murders
- 1 April 1980
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis in Western Journal of Speech Communication
- Vol. 44 (1) , 64-73
- https://doi.org/10.1080/10570318009373987
Abstract
This essay describes Kenneth Burke's theory of scapegoating as a major symbolic form of rhetorical action. Scapegoating is illustrated in Mayor Joseph Alioto's response to the 1974 Zebra murders in San Francisco. Drawing on the theoretical implications of symbolic form, the Mayor's rhetoric is used as proof of the social, symbolic character of rhetorical exigency.Keywords
This publication has 2 references indexed in Scilit:
- Causation and creativity in rhetorical situations: Distinctions and implicationsQuarterly Journal of Speech, 1979
- Power: The rhetoric of mobilizationCentral States Speech Journal, 1978