The concept was coined by Philip Wander in his article "The Third Persona: An Ideological Turn in Rhetorical Theory," first published in 1984 after a prolonged debate in the Central States Speech Journal.
"[4] These altruistic goals are requisite to understanding the notion of Third Persona, which seeks to acknowledge the unacknowledged social voice.
"[7] The third persona, according to Wander, is the audience negated or rejected by the speaker, speech, or situation.
[10] There is an ethical concern in the concept of third persona since it applies to groups who have been historically denied human rights, those prejudiced against due to their status as "non-subjects" based on age, citizenship, gender, sexual preference, race, or religion, for example.
It applies to those individuals who have suffered from objectification by what is said against them, the level to which they are ignored, and those conditions which deny them an ability to speak for themselves within the rhetorical dialogue.
"[12] The concept of third persona is considered within the larger discussion of "rhetorical criticism" regarding speech communication, and also within the literature of the "ideological turn."
[14] Using rhetoric the critic wields power in a role as "the interpreter, the teacher, the social actor," the critiques of whom direct moral order within society.
Conversely, others argue that third persona can be placed under the definition of marginalization—marginalized by those "hegemonic social and discursive structures" that accord them the status of "nonsubjects.
[18] Recent critiques, primarily by feminists such as Nancy Fraser, argue that Habermas' theory consisted of "significant exclusions," that his bourgeois public sphere excluded women and other unseen classes of persons.
[19] Such criticisms, which seek to acknowledge forgotten populations, are sympathetic with Wander's conception of third persona.
Where Fraser, et al., deviate from Wander is their assessment that these marginalized groups then form their own sub-spheres, termed counterpublics.
"[25] In this light it shares similar interests within some social science fields for "radical change" scholarship.