Written Communication Jan 2004

A Rhetorical Perspective on the Sokal Hoax: Genre, Style, and Context

Marie Secor Pennsylvania State University ; Lynda Walsh New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology

Abstract

In 1996, New York University professor of physics Alan Sokal wrote a parody of an academic article he titled “Transgressing the Boundaries: Toward a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity.” This parody escaped detection by the editors and was published in the journal Social Text. Sokal outed his own hoax in the academic magazine Lingua Franca, after which prolonged discussion about the hoax took place in both academic and popular venues. This article explores the rhetorical dimensions of Sokal’s hoax, defining the hoax as a rhetorical genre, relating the Sokal hoax to some 19th-century American scientific hoaxes, explaining why this hoax inspired such intense reactions, and identifying some of the stylistic and the generic exaggerations. The impassioned discussion of this hoax may be explained by the dynamics of its rhetorical context, which drew in Social Text ’s editors as it flattered their professional vanity and revived the debate over the culture wars. But the textual dynamics of Sokal’s hoax have been largely ignored, even though closer attention to genre, style, and argument might have prevented the hoax. Rhetorical understanding thus requires attention to both texts and contexts.

Journal
Written Communication
Published
2004-01-01
DOI
10.1177/0741088303261037
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Open Access
Closed
Topics
rhetorical criticism genre theory argument
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (5)

  1. Zerbe et al. (2025)
    The Rhetoric of Science in (Times of) Crisis
    Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  2. Mehlenbacher et al. (2025)
    Misinformation As Genre Function: Insights on the Infodemic from a Genre-Theore…
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  3. Pflugfelder (2022)
    Evidence Engines: Common Rhetorical Features of Fraudulent Academic Articles
    Written Communication
  4. Ross (2017)
    The Role of Ethics, Culture, and Artistry in Scientific Illustration
    Technical Communication Quarterly
  5. Fredal (2014)
    The Perennial Pleasures of the Hoax
    Philosophy & Rhetoric

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CrossRef global citation count: 16 View in citation network → Build reading path →

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