TIME: 2-3:15 Tuesday/Thursday
ROOM: 345 Phifer Hall

Also, 3:30-4:45 Tuesday
for COM 567 only

INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Bennett
OFFICE: 208 Phifer Hall
PHONE: 205-348-8073

TO COURSE ENTRY IN WEBCT

With the widespread use of mediated communication, both for political and commercial purposes, has come the popular conflation of rhetoric and propaganda under the general rubric of persuasion. Yet, to understand how persuasive forces work and to encourage citizen participation in this age of mass media, we need to be able to make critical distinctions between deliberate influence and coercion.

The aim of this course is to establish foundations for a functional, critical framework to study rhetoric and propaganda in today's society -- examining their relationship in terms of audience, nature of choice, desired response, means, truth, and the role of the communicator within the persuasive process.