Negotiated Authorship: A Rhetorical Analysis Of Professional Writer Job Postings
Abstract
This qualitative study (a rhetorical/discourse analysis) explores the genre of job postings, particularly postings for writing-related jobs in the financial services sector, to determine how words like "author" and "writer" are used in the discourse community of a financial corporation (a pseudo-scientific "data"-driven organization). If one assumes there is a power struggle between the creative authorship (authority) of the Writer (Author) and the ideological authority of the Corporation, how does the Corporation negotiate with a consenting, potential employee/Writer? The space for this negotiation begins in the job posting.