Date of Award

7-12-2012

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Philosophy and Liberal Studies

First Advisor

Earnest Cox

Second Advisor

David Sink

Abstract

Research in the field of nonprofit studies tells us that nonprofit organizations have the inherent ability to provide communities with a distinctive kind of social capital in the form of collective identity and group participation. This identity function is one of the defining characteristics of the nonprofit sector. This study involves a rhetorical analysis of four websites maintained by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). Each website (PETA.org, PETA Prime, peta2, and PETAKiDS) is aimed at reaching different age groups. This provides us with a unique rhetorical perspective into how the ethos of a nonprofit organization can be established though the use of rhetorical appeals, as well as how an organization's identity function can be communicated and shared most effectively with different audiences in an online environment.

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