Transcendent leader centered analysis: A reconstructive approach to social movement analysis

This essay proposed a framework for social movement analysis that extends postmodern deconstructive techniques to a form of reconstruction which transcends the exploration of how language can say many different things simultaneously. By assessing the rhetoric of a movement, the leaders' view of conflict, pattern of expressing conflict, and the dynamic of identity in the escalation of conflict are revealed. James R. Andrews! (1980) method was utilized which concentrates on the leaders' manipulation of language, the "move" of a movement, in determining a conflicts directionality. Case studies analyzed the movements which led to the 1980 Miami Riot and the 1992 Los Angeles Riot, and a recent movement which transpired in New York City surrounding the police shooting of Amadou Diallo. Conclusions indicate that in the postmodern era a social movement leader's utmost priority should not be to defeat the opposition's arguments but to coordinate the management of meanings construed so that constructive ends may result.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA)

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Communication Studies

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Year

1999

Author dc:creator

• Coleman, Kurt Ulrich

Contributors dc:contributor

• Richard J. Jensen

Statement dc:rights

• IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language

English

Identifier

https://oasis.library.unlv.edu/rtds/1110

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:oasis.library.unlv.edu:rtds-2109