Technology studies and technical communication: substantive rhetoric revisited

Technical communication scholars often study and contribute to studies of technology. By understanding the process of technological progression, a communicator may be placed in a position to actively participate in questions about technology in order to “check its dark side" (Bunge 181). This dissertation argues that the symbiotic relationship between technical communication and technology studies is questionable considering that the current “constructivist†paradigm of technology studies often misinterprets the critiques of important authors of technology, such as Jacques Ellul and Neil Postman. These authors have consistently been placed into a paradigm that a close reading of their ideas doesn’t warrant. Because many studies of technology do not have a “meaningful theory of technology†(Winner, “Social†242) that maximizes human autonomy, this dissertation questions the “rhetorical†theories of communicators who connect their writing pedagogy and theories to the logics of Andrew Feenberg and other technology “constructivists.†The end goal of this dissertation is to flesh out this element of technical communication scholarship.