“Recovery warriors”: The National Eating Disorders Association’s online community and rhetorical vision

IF 2.7 Q1 COMMUNICATION

Public Relations Inquiry Pub Date : 2021-05-12 DOI:10.1177/2046147X211014083

Sarah A. Aghazadeh

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引用次数: 1

Abstract

Mental health advocacy organizations play an important role in mitigating stigma and questioning the social norms that can create negative health outcomes. This essay explores how a U.S. advocacy organization attempted to facilitate shared meaning about a stigmatized health issue with its online community via rhetorical vision, or narrative that connects people in shared reality. Through the lens of symbolic convergence theory (SCT), a fantasy theme analysis of the National Eating Disorders Association’s (NEDA) social media messages and comments uncovered a recovery warrior metaphor that framed eating disorder recovery as a heroic journey. The analysis describes potential reasons why NEDA would attempt to foster a rhetorical vision informed by a warrior narrative, how it used warriors as a cue to facilitate vision, and the tensions within the community that expose the evolution and limitations of recovery warriors to constitute a rhetorical vision and community. Theoretical implications are offered at the intersections of public relations and SCT. These implications provide a roadmap for advocacy organizations attempting to build symbolic community and shared narratives online in the context of stigmatized health conditions while also interrogating organizational power to shape rhetorical visions.

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“康复勇士”:国家饮食失调协会的在线社区和修辞愿景

精神卫生宣传组织在减轻耻辱感和质疑可能产生负面健康结果的社会规范方面发挥着重要作用。这篇文章探讨了一个美国倡导组织如何试图通过修辞的愿景或叙述将人们联系在共同的现实中，促进其在线社区对一个被污名化的健康问题的共享意义。通过符号趋同理论(SCT)的视角，对美国国家饮食失调协会(NEDA)的社交媒体信息和评论进行了幻想主题分析，揭示了一个康复勇士的隐喻，将饮食失调的康复描绘成一场英雄般的旅程。分析描述了为什么NEDA会试图培养一种由战士叙事告知的修辞愿景的潜在原因，它如何使用战士作为促进愿景的线索，以及社区内部的紧张局势，这些紧张局势暴露了恢复战士的进化和局限性，以构成一种修辞愿景和社区。在公共关系和科学技术的交叉点上提供了理论启示。这些影响为倡导组织提供了路线图，这些组织试图在污名化的健康状况背景下建立象征性社区和在线共享叙述，同时也质疑组织力量塑造修辞愿景。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Public Relations Inquiry COMMUNICATION-

CiteScore

4.10

自引率

11.10%

发文量

期刊介绍： Public Relations Inquiry is an international, peer-reviewed journal for conceptual, reflexive and critical discussion on public relations, supporting debates on new ways of thinking about public relations in social, cultural and political contexts, in order to improve understanding of its work and effects beyond the purely organisational realm. We interpret public relations in a broad sense, recognising the influence of public relations practices on the many forms of contemporary strategic, promotional communication initiated by organisations, institutions and individuals. The practice of public relations arises at points of societal and organisational change and transformation, affecting many aspects of political, economic, social and cultural life. Reflecting this, we aim to mobilize research that speaks to a scholars in diverse fields and welcome submissions from any area that speak to the purpose of the journal, including (but not only) public relations, organizational communication, media and journalism studies, cultural studies, anthropology, political communication, sociology, organizational studies, development communication, migration studies, visual communication, management and marketing, digital media and data studies. We actively seek contributions that can extend the range of perspectives used to understand public relations, its role in societal change and continuity, and its impact on cultural and political life. We particularly welcome multi-disciplinary debate about the communication practices that shape major human concerns, including: globalisation, politics, and public relations in international communication migration, refugees, displaced populations terrorism, public diplomacy public and corporate governance diversity and cultural impacts of PR the natural and built environments Communication, space and place The development and practices of major industries such as health, food, sport, tourism, technology.