In 2003 Joshua Gunn delivered a sophisticated criticism of what he considered Bormann's outdated conception of SCT involving a humanist construct of conscious human actors working with an agency. In contrast, Gunn proposed a post-modernist construct working in an unconscious and critiqued Bormann's work as a passing era before Michael McGee took rhetorical study onto issues of ideology.
In 2003 Joshua Gunn presented a nuanced critique of Bormann's outdated perspective on SCT, which he believed relied on a humanist framework of conscious human actors interacting with an agency. In contrast, Gunn proposed a post-modernist approach working in an unconscious, and criticized Bormann's work as being superseded by Michael McGee's exploration of ideology.