Struggling for Policy Change: A Critical Rhetorical Analysis

• In Event: Roundtable Session 31
  In Roundtable Session: Critical Policy Perspectives and the Politics of Leadership

Abstract

The number of groups vying to influence education policy has increased substantially over the past decades, but understanding of their activities and influence is limited. The study addresses gaps in the field by describing how a Canadian advocacy group engaged in the struggle over the meaning of school fees as part of its efforts to influence the school fees policy in the province of Ontario. The strategies employed by the advocacy group in its fees campaign are analyzed using critical rhetorical analysis. This method is useful for understanding how discourse is used to persuade others; therefore, by analyzing the rhetorical strategies employed, this study demonstrates how the art of rhetoric might be used to influence social change.

Authors

• Michelle Milani, York University

• Sue Winton, York University