Abstract

Emerging from the development of a workplace literacy program for entry-level tax examiners, this case study examines ways in which conflicts between management and workers over the division of labor are textually enacted in the two kinds of manuals that govern the work of tax examiners in an IRS Service Center. The first kind of manual, called an IRM, is the official government manual operationalizing the procedures for interpreting tax law and IRS regulations. The second, called a Desk Reference, is intended as an unofficial “translation” of the former. Closer analysis, using a critical application of systemic linguistics, reveals that systematic differences between the two manuals project contradictory views of the tax examiners' work. Consequently, tax examiners are put into the impossible position of attempting to be the compliant subjects of two opposing discourses.

Journal
Written Communication
Published
1997-07-01
DOI
10.1177/0741088397014003002
Open Access
Closed
Topics

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (6)

  1. Written Communication
  2. Journal of Business and Technical Communication
  3. Written Communication
  4. Written Communication
  5. Written Communication
Show all 6 →
  1. Journal of Business and Technical Communication

Cites in this index (2)

  1. Rhetoric Review
  2. Written Communication
Also cites 9 works outside this index ↓
  1. Towards a theory of educational transmissions
  2. The structuring of pedagogic discourse: Class, codes, and control
  3. 10.2307/358046
  4. Labor and monopoly capital: The degredation of work in the twentieth century
  5. 10.2307/358587
  6. 10.2307/358987
  7. 10.17763/haer.63.1.u0762m971p0645t4
  8. 10.2307/357995
  9. 10.2307/377191
CrossRef global citation count: 7 View in citation network →