Week 6: Agenda setting and framing

Title: Rise in social deviance, plans made to counteract the problem in response.

      A country's future depends on its youth, but the youth depend on the elderly as role models in many areas, including ethics and education. However, in the case of our country, Country "X", the future may not be as bright as it is at the present. This is due to the behaviour of the country's younger generation at this time. Currently, they are best described as 'social deviants' who run amok in the streets doing criminal activities. The Ministry of Health has shown concern related to this matter. They believe that the main cause behind such deviants lie within the older citizens of the country. The older citizen's behaviour consisting of spitting and urinating in public brings a negative influence to the younger generation, who believe it as a cultural norm.

   The resulting behaviour will cause the image and the economy of Country"X" to be viewed negatively. Foreign companies will seem less likely to invest in a country which cannot curb this kind of behaviour, affecting the counry's economy. In order to combat this problem, the government plans to start public education immediately to deal with social deviants. This is done by the development of schools to produce a higher educated population to solve the problem. This also brings a positive benefit of attracting investors and improving the country's economy.....

Prioity as national agenda: -Older citizens spitting and urinating in public places.
                                            -The younger ones think it is a cultural norm.
                                            -lack of education likely cause of this.
                                            -affects government.

                                            -Government plans to start public education.
                                             -with public education, more educated people
                                             -more educated people, less chance of doing the negative behaviour
                                             -investors get more confident and invest

                                            -Public survey
                                            -with public education, the educated ones can educate the old people
                                            -less likely for people spitting and urinating in public
                                            -educated people can boost economy
                                            -encourages foreign investment

Week 5: Dramatism

The chosen topic for the essay shall be Dramatism. For the purposes of the blog, this entry shall only state the summary of the entry:

 Kenneth Burke defines dramatism as a concept. This concept explains about the motivation of human beings through the analysis of drama. It also analyses language and thought as modes of action rather than to convey information.(3) In simpler terms, dramatism involves communication and the communicator acts as if he or she was in a drama, hence the term. The communicator tries to reach to the audience to gain acceptence on his or her views.(2) This forms an attempt to convince the 'audience' via the actions performed by the comunicator, much like how an actual drama plays out.

The main course of dramatism only apply to people as they have the ability to perform action. An action is something done to a person on purpose in a way of their voluntary behaviour. This is different from motion, which contains neither meaning or purpose. In this sense, as explained by Littlejohn(2002) only people have actions, objects and animals have only motion.(1) Actions can be either animalistic or symbolic.(3)

These actions deal with thought. In one of Burke's books, "Grammar of Motives" (1945), basic forms of thought can be made prevalent through use of motives which are a product of rheotherical action. Motives deal with how people understand and respond to certain events(1)

A pentad is used to analyse the motives in a symbolic action. The pentad mainly concerns about the act, scene, agent, agency, purpose and later, attitude. Act describes whatever action took place. Agent describes who or what performed the action. Scene describes the location of the act. Agency describes the means employed. Purpose descibes why the act took place. Attitude describes the manner the action was performed.(1,3)

                                                                                                                             (277 words)
References:

1. Cohrs, B. (2002). Kenneth Burke's Dramatism. Accessed 15/2/2012. Website: http://zimmer.csufresno.edu/~johnca/spch100/5-3-burke.htm

2. Dramatism-small group communication context. Accessed 15/2/2012. Website: http://www.uky.edu/~drlane/capstone/group/drama.html

3.Notes: Kenneth Burke on Rhetoric, pt. 2. Accessed 17/2/2012. Website: http://bradley.bradley.edu/~ell/burke2.html