Introduction to Special Issue on Unjust “Permission Structures” in/as Technical Communication

Abstract

The term “permission structure” has been popularized to describe a specific rhetorical strategy whereby communicators use the audience's existing beliefs and values to persuade them to change their original positions and/or take actions they otherwise would not. Even in its popular uses, permission structuring may be usefully understood as a form of technical communication by which audiences are strategically persuaded to accept or reject complex policy, scientific, and legal topics. However, scholars must resist popular jargon outpacing and superseding the use of technical concepts and critical discourse. Taken together, the seven articles in this special issue potentiate multiple critical, pedagogical, and practical applications for permission structuring as a technical communication strategy. We therefore intend for this introduction and each of the following articles to inspire further research into, and articulation of, the many possible uses and understandings of permission structures within the field of technical communication.