ENTANGLEMENTS OF CONSUMPTION, CRUELTY, PRIVACY, AND FASHION - THE SOCIAL CONTROVERSY OVER FUR

This essay posits a critical approach to the study of contemporary social controversy so as to initiate inquiry into how these extended rhetorical engagements critique, resituate, and develop communication practices bridging the public and personal spheres. Objections to the use of fur are examined as oppositional argument, that is, as rhetoric that veers from the goal of persuasion in order to block conventional associations and refashion communication norms. Pro-fur responses illustrate strategies available to bolster, alter, or abandon habits of consumer culture. It is concluded that the fur controversy presages the emerging shape of a contemporary public sphere.