participation framework manipulation

[Christian Kjaer Nelson]

(Sorry for the cross-posting)

Hi Folks:

Does anyone know of work which discusses how a participation framework (as
Goffman describes it in _Forms of talk_, and Levinson, 19??, elaborates it)
was or can be manipulated for strategic ends? In the case I'm writing about,
it appears that a cabinet secretary acted almost as a ghost writer for a
government commission whose report would not have been as influential had it
born the secretary's name as its author. Further, while the commission's
ostensible audience is the American people, it seems that the real audience
was the President served by the secretary. (BTW, I'm talking, very loosely,
about _A Nation at Risk_, at least ostensibly authored by the National
Commission on Excellence in Education, commissioned by Secretary of
Education Terrel Bell, who served under Reagan.)

Of course, I'm not just interested in articles dealing with how
participation frameworks involving corporate or governmental actors, or
written texts, might be manipulated.

Thanks for any help,
Christian Nelson

Dr. Christian K. Nelson
Department of Communication
University of Massachusetts-Amherst
Amherst, MA 01003
413/545-6345 (phone)
413/545-6399 (fax)
cnelson at comm.umass.edu