Imagining the `iron cage

The rhetoric of hidden emotions in critical ethnography

Bibliographic Data

ID2402281
AuthorsPaul D Nugent (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, corresponding author), Mitchel Y Abolafia (University at Albany, State University of New York)
Year2007
Volume8
Issue2
Pages205-226
Publication date2007-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEthnography (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1466-1381 • E-ISSN: 1741-2714
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1466138107078633
OpenAlexW2161906618
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited13

In this article we argue that the rhetorical power of critical ethnography cannot be fully explained by current concepts in rhetorical studies. Although rhetorical studies acknowledge the role played by sympathy and imagination, they have not recognized the extent to which organizational ethnographers elicit the identification of readers with characters through the depiction of `hidden emotions.' Hidden emotions are those that are subjectively experienced but not publicly expressed. They tend to be depicted in situations in which characters are faced with evaluative judgment or the potential for such judgment. Rhetorical data from four widely-read critical ethnographies were analyzed using this framework. The analysis revealed strong patterns in the ways the ethnographers portray characters experiencing hidden emotions in controlling institutional contexts. It is through this strategy that the authors are able to succeed in their narrative aims to elaborate Max Weber's `iron cage

Aesthetics · Depiction · Epistemology · Ethnography · Linguistics · Narrative · Power (physics · Rhetoric · Rhetorical device · Rhetorical question · Sociology · Sympathy · Anthropology · Emotional Labor in Professions · Management and Organizational Studies · Philosophy · Psychology · Rhetoric and Communication Studies · Social Psychology

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