Judge Clarence Thomas' nomination to replace Justice Thurgood Marshall on the U.S. Supreme Court was a controversial political event, in large measure because of Professor Anita Hill's accusations of sexual harassment. Thomas employed three image restoration strategies in his defensive discourse: denial, bolstering, and attacking his accusers. His defense was judged to be well‐designed. The first two strategies respond to charges of sexual harassment, making it possible for senators to vote to confirm Thomas; the last strategy accuses Senators opposing Thomas of racism, providing motivation for Senators to cast that vote. Despite the fact that they stood in judgment of Thomas, it was wise to attack the Senate in this fashion: Thomas made his goal (confirmation) into the means for achieving the Senate's goal (dispelling charges of racism toward Thomas). It was also wise to avoid attacking Professor Hill, because that act would have placed Thomas in the role of attacker and Hill in the role of victim, as he...

A critical analysis of Judge Clarence Thomas' statement before the senate judiciary committee

Sexual harassment can be conceptualized as a series of interactions between harassers and targets that either inhibit or increase outrage by third parties. The outrage management model predicts the kinds of actions likely to be used by perpetrators to minimize outrage, predicts the consequences of failing to use these tactics—namely backfire, and recommends countertactics to increase outrage. Using this framework, our archival study examined outrage-management tactics reported as evidence in 23 judicial decisions of sexual harassment cases in Australia. The decisions contained precise, detailed information about the circumstances leading to the claim; the events which transpired in the courtroom, including direct quotations; and the judges' interpretations and findings. We found evidence that harassers minimize outrage by covering up the actions, devaluing the target, reinterpreting the events, using official channels to give an appearance of justice, and intimidating or bribing people involved. Targets can respond using countertactics of exposure, validation, reframing, mobilization of support, and resistance. Although there are limitations to using judicial decisions as a source of information, our study points to the value of studying tactics and the importance to harassers of minimizing outrage from their actions. The findings also highlight that, given the limitations of statutory and organizational protections in reducing the incidence and severity of sexual harassment in the community, individual responses may be effective as part of a multilevel response in reducing the incidence and impact of workplace sexual harassment as a gendered harm.

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Outrage management in cases of sexual harassment as revealed in judicial decisions

............................................................................................................................. i List of Figures ................................................................................................................. vii List of Tables................................................................................................................... vii Attestation of Authorship ............................................................................................... viii Dedication ........................................................................................................................ ix Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................... x Chapter One: Introduction.................................................................................................

Staying Connected Through Conflict: Christian Clergy Who Support Same-sex Marriage

Symbolic politics theories suggest that political events take on multiple meanings and that societal groups respond to a given event on the basis of different interpretations. We explore this claim through a quantitative case study of popular responses to a single political spectacle, the Senate hearings that investigated Anita Hill's claims against Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas. Our findings suggest that Hill and Thomas supporters responded to the hearings on the basis of fundamentally different considerations. Moreover, the considerations that drove support for each actor varied across groups defined by race, gender, and levels of media attention. Finally, different structures of consideration influenced the direction and extremity of mass responses to this spectacle. Our analysis supports interpretivist theories of political communication and casts doubt on the presumption that citizens with opposing responses to a political event share a common dimension of conflict. In addition, we argue that...

Spectacular Politics, Dramatic Interpretations: Multiple Meanings in the Thomas/Hill Hearings

Building on Murray Edelman's (1988) analysis of the socially constructed nature of postmodern mass-mediated “political spectacles,” this research utilizes a Gamsonian framing analysis approach to examine the rhetorical themes and symbolic images employed by political proponents and opponents of the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas during the 1991 televised “sexual harassment” hearings. Because this dramatic national spectacle centered around the relative credibility of two opposed personalities in the public mind, the research focuses on the content of media images of the “real” Clarence Thomas and the “real” Anita Hill that were constructed for public consumption by the two opposed political camps in their attempts to sway mass opinion. Rhetorical motifs used by the “Hill” and “Thomas” political camps to frame the public debate are identified and classified based on newspaper and network television coverage of the events and on congressional transcripts. The impact of these symbolic messages in framing the context within which Americans ultimately gauged the “reality” status of Hill's and Thomas's respective truth claims is discussed, with particular emphasis on the intense symbolic contest that occurred between gender-based and race-based frames and on the implications for emerging styles of political discourse in postmodern society.

The postmodern politics of context definition : Competing reality frames in the Hill-Thomas spectacle

Faith and Politics: How the "Moral Values" Debate Divides America and How to Move Forward Together

When U.S. Senator and Christian minister John C. Danforth sponsored Clarence Thomas for the Supreme Court nomination, he was not prepared for the explosion caused by Anita Hill's charges of sexual harassment. Here is a deeply moving story of spiritual regeneration and a revealing account of an important moment in American history.

Resurrection : the confirmation of Clarence Thomas

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John C. Danforth

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Faith and Politics: How the "Moral Values" Debate Divides America and How to Move Forward Together

Resurrection : the confirmation of Clarence Thomas