Communication as influence: Definitional exclusion

Abstract

Persuasion, influence, and power have traditionally been defined as the fundamental features of rhetoric, communication, and discourse. This tradition of definition exhibits a masculine bias that has tended to exclude and negate a feminine view of communication as relational responsibility. This essay calls for the development of a transcendent definition of communication that will include and affirm both masculine and feminine views, leading to more favorable pragmatic, theoretic, and research consequences.