Rhetorical theory undermines the autonomy of academic disciplines

Evidence

The function of the theory — and what gives it the appearance of a method that can be transported from one kind of verbal object to another — seems to be rather to lie in its effort to discredit the autonomy of the academic disciplines, and thereby the classification of texts they perpetuate, into political philosophies, historical and social speculation, novels and plays, philosophy, and autobiographical writing, each of which is claimed by a separate tradition. — Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic…, 530

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the ‘cultural dominant’ thesis: just as postmodernism blurs high/low culture boundaries, deconstruction blurs disciplinary boundaries between text types. — connects to: Education policy slogans can mask reactionary practice behind rhetorical progressivism — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 321; Contestatory rhetoric about fiction can mask a directive monologue that suppresses critical engagement — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 237; Methodological self-consciousness frees scholars from inherited ideological frameworks — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 827 (+2 more)
• yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: Education policy slogans can mask reactionary practice behind rhetorical progressivism — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 321; Contestatory rhetoric about fiction can mask a directive monologue that suppresses critical engagement — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 237; Methodological self-consciousness frees scholars from inherited ideological frameworks — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 827 (+2 more)