Toward a Vision of Theory for Democracy: Gramsci, Mills, and Rhetorical Theory

• In Event: Studies in the Rhetorical Potential and Limitations of Liberalism and Radicalism in Democracy

Abstract

Antonio Gramsci and C. Wright Mills suggest that democratically relevant theory must be suitable for addressing citizens and the problems that citizens face. Theory for democracy, versus theory of democracy, pursues publicly viable concepts, or concepts that citizens can use, not concepts designed solely to meet standards of scientific description or normative idealization. As such, adjectively sincere democratic theory must be a form of rhetorical theory—a form of theory in pursuit of public rhetorical resources.

Author

• Scott M. Welsh, Indiana University