#31786
Cruel Theory? The Struggle for Prestige and Its Consequences in Academic Technical Communication 
Some struggles for prestige in academic technical communication are self-defeating and wasteful because of the clash between the material (or positive-sum) economy of the workplace and the positional (or zero-sum) economy of the academy. Some professors of technical communication create disrespect for themselves and their specialities because they create degrading representations of working people and their artifacts, they promote impossible standards, and they advance discredited or misleading theories. More profitable approaches to gaining prestige for academic technical communication include recognizing that not everyone can be the top person in the positional economy, studying works on the economics of prestige, and promoting the genuinely good works that already exist in academic technical communication.
Moore, Patrick. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2008). Articles>TC>Research
#29827
One way to resolve some of the conflict in English studies and technical communication over their diminishing cultural capital is to recognize the place of instrumental discourse in communication studies. Instrumental discourse is individually verified social agreements to coordinate and control physical actions. One purpose of literary works is to voice new concerns about social inequities. A purpose of rhetoric is to persuade others of the validity of those concerns. Instrumental discourse registers agreements about those concerns and brings them to temporary closure in laws, instructions, contracts, and constitutions. Instrumental discourse is the culmination of a process that often begins with a literary monolog, is continued in many rhetorical dialogs, and ends, for a while, in a chorus of approval. Each phase of this communication process--monolog, dialog, and chorus--has a place in English studies. If more English studies faculty would recognize the need to study the communications that promote dissensus and consensus, then they might contribute more to global discussions about social justice, cooperation, and sustainability, and they might gain more cultural capital and social influence.
Moore, Patrick. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2006). Articles>Education>TC>Workplace
#29144
Carolyn Miller's oft-cited "Humanistic Rationale for Technical Writing," published in 1979, tries to give technical communication faculty more cultural capital in English departments controlled by literature professors. Miller replaces a positivistic emphasis in technical communication pedagogy with rhetoric. She shows how technical knowledge is produced by individual activity and social affirmation and not by objective descriptions of sensory impressions. Her "Rationale" is an attempt to change institutional and discursive structures by persuading literature professors that technical communication can have as much distinction in the academy as literature.
Moore, Patrick. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2006). Academic>Education>TC>Professionalism
#29106
By emphasizing the negative meanings of words, ignoring variations in translations, and quoting out of context, Steven B. Katz has argued in an influential article that an 'ethic of expediencyunderlies technical communication and deliberative rhetoric, and by extension writing pedagogy and practice based on it.' Katz's assertion misrepresents the motive of technical communication and its pedagogy, and it brings discredit to the professions of technical communication and the teaching of technical communication. His attempt to discredit the motive of technical communication is part of a two-millennia-long contest for status between intellectuals and the working classes, and it creates unnecessary mistrust at a time in history when people must focus even more on cooperating socially in order to sustain democratic cultures and our physical environment for future generations.
Moore, Patrick. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication (2004). Articles>Reviews>TC
#25564
Rethinking the Idea of Profit in Professional Communication and Cultural Capitalism
Critical theorists often attack economic capitalists for focusing excessively on profit. But critical theorists are themselves capitalists--cultural capitalists--and they also pursue profit: in the form of publications, promotions, enhanced reputations, tenure, and course releases. Economic capitalists typically use profit for constructive reasons: as a form of audience analysis and as a way to create the wealth that enables other people to work, to have specialized jobs (including professorships), and to raise families. Profit is an integral part of the communication of economic capitalism, and the profit motive helps capitalists create safer products and usable professional communication.
Moore, Patrick. Journal of Business and Technical Communication (2004). Articles>Business Communication
#10325
Rhetorical vs. Instrumental Approaches to Teaching Technical Communication
Survey and anecdotal evidence indicates that universities do not prepare students well for writing in the workplace. One important reason for this failure is that rhetorical theory dominates the teaching of technical communication in the academy. Though extremely influential in the academy, rhetorical theory is inappropriate for teaching some kinds of important workplace communication (instructions, online documentation, computer-human interfaces, indexes), and it does not address important skills that practicing technical communicators need. Instrumental discourse differs from rhetoric in its purpose, in its absence of reasons and argumentation, in its task-oriented approach, in its emphasis on accessibility, and in its emphasis on economics. As a result, instrumental discourse is much more appropriate for the genres and skills that practicing technical communicators use, and it offers significant advantages to students, and in the long run, to the academy itself.
Moore, Patrick. Technical Communication Online (1997). Articles>Education>Instructional Design>Rhetoric
