Isn't it ironic: Using irony to explore the contradictions of organizational life

摘要: This study brings together two promising strands of research in organizational communication‐postmodern theories and contradiction‐centered analyses discourse practice by employing irony, as articulated postmodern and/or feminist scholars, a theoretical lens to analyze the contradictions that structure social service organization. While many scholars have pointed ironic outcomes (e.g., agencies foster client dependence while claiming encourage independence), few teased out discursive complexities create those conditions (Fraser, 1989; Trethewey, 1997). case shifts our focus away from manifestations toward tools, namely with which we can better understand how ambiguities paradoxes reality.