Rhetoric for direct practice.(POINTS & VIEWPOINTS)

A recent article in Social Work titled "Advocacy and Argumentation in the Public Arena: A Guide for Social Workers by Vicki Lens (July 2005, pp. 231-238) provided a valuable beginning to the exploration of the uses of rhetoric in the fields of social policy and policymaking. I argue that the activity called "rhetoric" is also predominant in direct social work practice and is therefore worth further examination in a broader practice context.

THE REJECTION OF RHETORIC

Rhetoric, or "the art of using language effectively" (Brooks & Warren, 1979, p. 5), has falle