Kenneth Burke's Punitive Priests and the Redeeming Prophets: The NCAA, the College Sports Media, and the University of Miami Scandal

摘要

Burke argues priesthoods that work to maintain the social order govern orientations. This can lead to cultural lag or the gap that results when a priesthood fails to maintain an orientation in light of communal changes. To account for cultural lag, a community can develop prophets who work to revise the orientation. To illustrate, I examined the University of Miami booster who provided improper benefits to student-athletes. As a result of the coverage of the scandal, the media worked with the college sports community to blame and chastise the NCAA in order to provide them with a plan for revision and restoration. This case illustrates how prophets can function to take up the cultural lag in a community by challenging the priesthood with its own sins and providing a means of restoration that adapts the orientation to current circumstances.