A 5 page research paper on James Scott's model of discourse that delineates between hidden and public transcripts. Basically, public transcripts are the face that subordinated people assume for those in power, while hidden transcripts are what they really think and feel. Scott makes an excellent argument that this model for considering discourse illuminates the dynamics of social power structures. Bibliography lists 3 sources.
Name of Research Paper File: D0_khhidpub.rtf
Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
one group of people has dominance over another. When discourse is shaped by a subordinate, "out of prudence, fear, and the desire to curry favor," in such a manner as
"to appeal to the expectations of the powerful," this discourse is referred to by Scott as the public transcript (2000, p. 2). However, when subordinates state their true feelings to
their peers, Scott terms this the hidden transcript. Scott makes an excellent argument that this model for considering discourse illuminates the dynamics of social power structures. For example,
Scott refers to Civil War diary kept by a Southern woman, a slave-owner, who noted that whenever the topic of the war was mentioned, her slaves went about their tasks
silently, with no expression. Her diary states, "Yet on all other subjects except the war they are the most excitable of all races" (Scott, 1990, p. 3). As these slaves
were still under the domination of their masters, they dared not show their interest or excitement at the news of Union victories. Their silence was their public transcript, and their
only protection from punishment for having opinions contrary the interests of their masters. While this is a severe example of power disparity, almost everyone has encountered situations in which
they present a public transcript that is the result of a power disparity. When a student agrees with a professor in an attempt to curry favor, or when an employee
falsely complements his or her boss in order to win approval are also examples of power transcripts. Scott (1990) observes that "the greater the disparity of power between dominant and
subordinate, and the more arbitrarily it is exercised, the more the public transcript of subordinates will take on a stereotyped, ritualistic cast" (p. 3). Again, the ideal example is