Persuasion Versus Manipulation: The Input of Pragmatics and C.D.A.

Considering the pervasiveness of manipulation, and the widespread fallacy about its presumed unidirectional agency attributed to the manipulator acting on a passive manipulated person, the paper offers a theoretical discussion that advocates the necessity of fine-tuning various shades of persuasion vs manipulation placed on a cline. To this effect, the paper proffers a critical review of the various typologies on manipulation. Based on this theoretical discussion, and in addition to the time-honored rhetorical vantage point, the paper spells out some pragmatic factors to take into account when tackling manipulation, the ethical dimension of manipulation from a C.D.A. perspective, qualifying it as illegitimate control, the inherent vagueness of the term, its connection with deception from a Forensic Linguistic perspective, and a shift in focus towards the effects of manipulation from a Media Effects perspective. Thus, the deconstruction of manipulation is inevitably interdisciplinary as it is at the cross-roads of all these perspectives. In view of the complexity of the issue and its various manifestations, its analysis can only be thick.