Rhetorical Situation

Overview
The rhetorical situation refers to the circumstances that surround the creation or presentation of rhetorical discourse. Rhetorical discourse can be defined as rhetoric (a spoken or written text) that is communicated to an audience. The rhetor is the writer or speaker of the text/speech. There is scholarly debate over the nature of rhetorical situations and their constituents (or essential parts), though the most prominent constituents are exigence (or need), audience, and constraints.

As rhetors, technical communicators should be aware of their role in the overarching rhetorical situations that shape, and are shaped by, the content they publish.

Original Interpretation (Bitzer)
Rhetorical situations, in a general sense, have existed since the beginnings of rhetoric as a field of study. However, the concept of "the rhetorical situation” wasn’t originally defined in the vocabulary of rhetorical theory. In 1968, Lloyd Bitzer became the first scholar to conceptualize the rhetorical situation, describing it as “the nature of [the] contexts in which writers or speakers create rhetorical discourse." According to Bitzer, the rhetorical situation always precedes the discourse (a formal address, document, etc.) because the situation is what “calls the discourse into existence." Like a question without an answer, a rhetorical situation may exist without ever generating a text. But rhetorical texts can't exist without their corresponding situations.

Bitzer’s definition is divided into three main constituents: exigence, audience, and constraints. If the situation fosters discourse, then the discourse and its rhetor become additional constituents in the rhetorical situation.

Exigence
An exigence is a need, gap, obstacle, or “imperfection marked by urgency.” For an exigence to be rhetorical, it must have the ability to be improved or changed via rhetoric. The exigence can take many forms, including actual or potential, weak or strong, trivial or important, and singular or plural.

TC Example (Part 1): You work as a technical writer for a software company that has just finished developing a desktop program. The creation of this new program brings about a gap (exigence) in consumer knowledge of how to work the program. You can resolve this exigence by writing an instruction manual (rhetorical discourse) to bundle with the finished product.

Audience
In a rhetorical situation, the audience comprises the readers and/or listeners who are influenced by, or capable of acting on, the discourse.

TC Example (Part 2): Before writing the instruction manual, you must consider your audience. In this situation, the audience would include everyone who uses the product.

Constraints
Constraints of a rhetorical situation include all "persons, events, objects, and relations" that "have the power to constrain decision and action needed to modify the exigence." In other words, the constraints are any additional factors that might impact the potential discourse.

TC Example (Part 3): While writing the instruction manual, you are faced with many constraints, such as the product release date, deadlines, company style guide, genre, and the audience's perceived skill level.

Criticism
Since Bitzer's 1968 publication, various scholars have challenged his original interpretation of the relationship between the rhetorical situation and rhetorical discourse. This debate centers on how meaning is created: Is meaning inherent to situations, or do rhetors create meaning through their interpretation of situations? For the field of technical communication, these questions have ethical implications. Though technical writers may strive to be objective and unbiased, they still have the power to misconstrue events/facts and mislead audiences.

"Situations are rhetorical" (Vatz)
In "The Myth of the Rhetorical Situation," Richard Vatz takes issue with Bitzer's interpretation of rhetoric being situational. Vatz argues that "meaning is not intrinsic in events" because there is an infinite amount of information that informs them. Instead, it is the rhetor who creates meaning by choosing which facts and events to make salient. Thus, Vatz believes that Bitzer undermines the power of the rhetor in shaping the situation. Additionally, Vatz argues that the relationships between situations and rhetoric are actually flipped, with rhetoric creating (or inviting) the situation and exigence instead of vice versa.

"Rhetoric as an art" (Consigny)
In "Rhetoric and Its Situations," Scott Consigny critiques both Bitzer's and Vatz's arguments. Consigny agrees with Bitzer that there are certain constraints and "particularities" that impact the rhetorical situation. Yet he also agrees with Vatz that the rhetor has creative freedom in structuring discourse. To bring these ideas together, Consigny proposes a third factor of "rhetoric as an art" which would allow the rhetor to successfully engage in all situations. For this, "the art of rhetoric" must meet two conditions: integrity and receptivity. Integrity refers to the rhetor's "universal capacity" to respond to novel situations. Receptivity refers to the rhetor's ability to adapt to the needs of the situation.

"Compound rhetorical situations" (Grant-Davie)
In "Rhetorical Situations and Their Constituents," Keith Grant-Davie expands upon Bitzer's original definition and proposes a more thorough scheme for examining rhetorical situations. Grant-Davie argues that the rhetor should be acknowledged as a constituent before the discourse is created. He contends that, like exigences and constraints, there can also be multiple rhetors and audiences in one situation. Grant-Davie further identifies "compound rhetorical situations," which are composed of closely related and overlapping situations. Discussions and public debates are examples of compound situations.

Rhetorical Situations in Technical Communication
The rhetorical situation can be applied to different positions within technical communication, including writing and editing.

Writing and Genre
Before producing a document, a technical writer must determine what exigence their document will address. The writer must also distinguish who their audience will be and what constraints they will face. The rhetorical situation and genre are interconnected, as genre is used "to fulfill a specific type of purpose within a particular, recognizable, and recurring situation." Genre can also be a constraint on the rhetoric produced by technical writers. As genres shift to new media (print to web), their corresponding rhetorical situations (exigences, audiences, and constraints) are also changing.

Editing
For a technical editor, their role in a rhetorical situation is different from the role of a technical writer. On the communication spectrum, the rhetor typically falls on one end, while the audience is on the other. But editors exist in the middle of this spectrum, which means that they face unique rhetorical situations. The editor supports the author's role by editing/rewriting for style and accuracy. At the same time, the editor must assume the role of a reader by testing the effectiveness of the document.