Abstract
Rhetorical agency generally refers to the ability to speak, to express oneself, or to create rhetoric. This essay begins with a consideration of the classical Aristotelian concept of ethos as a mode of expressing and practicing rhetorical agency. Ethos speaks directly to the power of subjectivity and the potential of rhetorical discourse to produce social and political change. Michel Foucault presents a unique and considerable challenge to both classical and modern conceptions of ethos, and helps explain how and why our neoliberal moment complicates ethos as a function of rhetorical agency. In the end, I consider the Occupy Wall Street movement as a way to enact agency in a neoliberal moment.
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Danisch, R. (2017). Rhetorical Agency in a Neoliberal Age: Foucault, Power, Agency, and Ethos. In: Nguyen, K. (eds) Rhetoric in Neoliberalism . Rhetoric, Politics and Society. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-39850-1_4
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