Imagining the `iron cage'

Abstract

In this article we argue that the rhetorical power of critical ethnography cannot be fully explained by current concepts in rhetorical studies. Although rhetorical studies acknowledge the role played by sympathy and imagination, they have not recognized the extent to which organizational ethnographers elicit the identification of readers with characters through the depiction of `hidden emotions.' Hidden emotions are those that are subjectively experienced but not publicly expressed. They tend to be depicted in situations in which characters are faced with evaluative judgment or the potential for such judgment. Rhetorical data from four widely-read critical ethnographies were analyzed using this framework. The analysis revealed strong patterns in the ways the ethnographers portray characters experiencing hidden emotions in controlling institutional contexts. It is through this strategy that the authors are able to succeed in their narrative aims to elaborate Max Weber's `iron cage.'