Contemporary rhetoric studies language in the current era, including its use in communication and media. It investigates how language is related to meaning and how it is used by individuals and groups. The study includes exploring the writings of various theorists to gain a comprehensive view of language’s role in society.
Contemporary rhetoric is a study of rhetoric that conforms to the dynamics and norms of a particular time period. In general, rhetoric is defined as the broadest category of language that includes a social component. In the study of rhetoric, there is an implication of a persuasive element, but any type of communication that seeks to convey an idea to one or more listeners can be called rhetoric. Linguists and others study rhetoric to investigate how language is related to meaning and how it is used by an individual or group.
Those who study contemporary rhetoric might call it “the rhetoric of yesteryear” or, more specifically, “the rhetoric of our time.” The word “contemporary” identifies the study as relating to the current era. This distinguishes contemporary rhetoric from other studies of rhetoric in past societies and eras.
A frequent use of the term contemporary rhetoric is in a university or academic context. An instructor or other professional might describe a contemporary rhetoric program as one that studies the human internalization of language, or what people “believe, act, and know.” While this may seem broad, academics often find ways to make the study of contemporary rhetoric relevant to a certain end goal.
For example, those studying rhetoric in a current day context may be looking for clues about how the use of language enables the most common types of communication in their society. In many modern societies, this means considering not only person-to-person rhetoric, as in peer or family communications, but also the use of rhetoric in visual media, such as in the cable television news cycle. Those who advocate the use of this type of study in modern times will argue that contemporary rhetorical study helps to more closely track how mass media is affecting the average citizen, which can have many practical applications in modern societies.
Students of rhetoric for the contemporary era will often consider the writings of various theorists. These will explore the use of a narrative, matters of human inquiry or trivia, or elements such as ‘epistemological’ rhetoric or rhetoric in text. All of this will help provide a more comprehensive view of the role of language in an overall ‘social universe’, whether that reality precedes or includes the vast array of new technologies in which people ‘talk’ to each other without actually speaking.
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