The ubiquitous impact of the neoliberal economy on our everyday life leads to questions of rhetorical significance. This project strives to incorporate service labor experience as a source as well as an effect of rhetoric thereby embodying materialist notions of the body at the site of production. I explore neoliberal discourses through the phenomena of outsourcing and offshoring by interviewing service industry employees that have experienced job uncertainty within a Fortune 500 corporation. By studying narratives, this project explores how the material effects of rhetoric are able to determine discourses of power relating to production. Thus, this study questions the persuasive element of being a worker within the precarious and the flexible workspace. It also contends that rhetoric in this regard incorporates material effects upon the body of the worker. In essence, the materialist embodiment of neoliberal's immanence lies within rhetoric.
","abstract_html":"<p>The ubiquitous impact of the neoliberal economy on our everyday life leads to questions of rhetorical significance. This project strives to incorporate service labor experience as a source as well as an effect of rhetoric thereby embodying materialist notions of the body at the site of production. I explore neoliberal discourses through the phenomena of outsourcing and offshoring by interviewing service industry employees that have experienced job uncertainty within a Fortune 500 corporation. By studying narratives, this project explores how the material effects of rhetoric are able to determine discourses of power relating to production. Thus, this study questions the persuasive element of being a worker within the precarious and the flexible workspace. It also contends that rhetoric in this regard incorporates material effects upon the body of the worker. In essence, the materialist embodiment of neoliberal's immanence lies within rhetoric.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Rossman, Leslie Lynne"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Ph.D.","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Josh Hanan, Ph.D.","Christina Foust","Bernadette M. Calafell"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2016,"date_issued":"2016-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2016-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:03:12Z","subjects":["Homo Oeconomicus","Materialism","Neoliberalism","Offshoring","Outsourcing","Communication","Economic Theory","Speech and Rhetorical Studies"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.
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