Rhetoric: Art of Persuasion Discovered

By: Madara Straume

May 22, 2017

Hello Readers,

In this blog I will analyze a writing "What if Sociologists Had as Much Influence as Economists?" I
found this article on "New York Times" very interesting from the perspective of how rhetoric is
used in this writing in order for this publication to influence the audience; this rhetoric could
appeal differently to an audience of economists, sociologists, and the general public. Rhetoric is
used in this article in form of visual aspect, references, and tone author uses. These are
important means of persuasion used by the author in order to transmit his message to the
audience. By analyzing the rhetoric used in this writing, it seems like it would be beneficial to
consider involving sociologists in the policy-making process, as they could offer a broader view
on low employment levels or stagnant wages. Perhaps, as mentioned by Irwin, "economics is
only a piece of a broader, societal problem" and sociologists study societal issues, so "maybe
the people who study just that could be worth listening to" ("What if Sociologists Had as Much
Influence as Economists?").

This writing is important to consider as the general public and government officials seem to be
targeted and attempted to persuade in thinking that sociologists should be more integrated into
the policy-making process. How likely is it that New York Times audience could actually be
government officials and people who have influence in the policy-making process? I would say
it's pretty likely, as it was discovered in PEW Research in 2012 that "approximately 56 percent
are college graduates 38 percent are high-income earners" (Reference*). The say of economists
in the policy-making process seems to be viewed as in necessity to lower throughout the "What
if Sociologists Had as Much Influence as Economists?" article, when statements like "as much as
we love economics here-this column is named Economic View, after all- there just may be a
downside to this one academic discipline having such primacy in shaping public policy" (Irwin).
If the general public and people who can influence the policy-making process are being
persuaded that it could be beneficial to include sociologists in the policy-making process, then
perhaps some changes in the near future could be expected?
As I have learned by reading about rhetoric from various sources, it is a concept, heavily
depending on a particular person's perception. Aristotle would say: "Rhetoric is the art of finding
the available means of persuasion in each case" ("In Defense of Rhetoric", 1:47). Rhetoric can
be viewed as means of persuasion. From my viewpoint, the description of an epistemic rhetoric
by Dr. Martin Jacobi is one that portrays rhetoric at its essence: "it creates our understanding of
our physical world and our place in the physical world" ("In Defense of Rhetoric", 10:26). The
idea of rhetoric triangle- logos (message), ethos (communicator), and pathos (audience) is
important to consider; a message can only have a further influence if a communicator and
audience are present; with ethos and pathos, the logos is shaped.

Visual Aspect

In this particular article, one tool used for persuasion is the picture in the beginning of this writing.
As mentioned in "Successful Writing at Work", "visuals are essential in the world of work; visuals
work in conjunction with your writing to summarize, inform, illustrate, and persuade" (Kolin,
p.400). "Visuals can effectively show ideas while a verbal description only tells about them"
(Kolin, p.401). Visuals used for persuasion can take different kinds of shapes-they can be charts,
maps, clip arts, pictures, etc. In this case, a picture is used as a visual persuasion and it
communicates information to readers that is free to their further interpretation. Personally, to
me this picture sends a vibe of something being unsuccessfully fought against; the person with
the hammer is trying to put the nails into place, however, as one nail goes into the ground, the
other pops up. This visual is used by the author in order to establish an emotional connection to
the audience and provoke certain reactions in them; in this case, I'm inclined to feel that the
reaction expected to arise in readers is a sense that some change is needed in order to "put all
the nails in the ground."

I associate this picture (tool of rhetoric) with the information that the author presents to the
readers by placing in the metaphor of economists not being able to fully address policy issues by
themselves, as in "What if Sociologists Had as Much Influence as Economists?" The author has
cleverly linked the rhetoric of the visual representation together with the rhetoric of a written
metaphor in the article, in which he says: "they say when all you have is a hammer, every
problem looks like a nail; and the risk is that when every policy adviser is an economist, every
problem looks like inadequate per-capita gross domestic product" (Irwin). This metaphor could
be viewed as logos in connection to rhetoric; logos (message) is used to persuade audience by
reason ("Examples of Ethos, Logos, and Pathos"). So, the picture compliments the logos and could
be described as pathos (which is an appeal to emotion; a way of convincing the audience of an
argument by creating an emotional response) ("Examples of Ethos, Logos, and Pathos").

References

As I previously mentioned, means of presenting a particular message are often dependent on the
target audience and communicator's standpoint on a particular issue. As we established, the
target audience in this case seems to be the general public as well as people who can influence
the policy-making process. In this particular article, I noticed that the author has referenced
particular people's opinions by mentioning what they've said in the article and putting it into
citation marks. Referencing claims of certain people can be used as a tool of rhetoric and
persuasion, depending on the context. The opinions of certain people can be presented,
however they should have a dose of credibility attached to their claims. In this writing, it is quite
apparent that the author is attempting to persuade the audience to reflect about an issue from
a particular standpoint (from the standpoint of considering the contributions that sociologists
could make to the policy-making field). It seems so because all the references made in this
writing (where people's opinions are cited) come from sociologists; none from economists.
This is an important notice, since the article addresses these two categories of people. Michele
Lamont, one of the referenced people, is a sociologist in Harvard and president of the American
Sociological Association (as mentioned by the author of the article-Irwin). The other person is
Herbert Gans, an emeritus professor of sociology at Colombia (as mentioned by Irwin). These
references and the addition of the commentary about the position these people occupy, creates
a sense of credibility that can persuade readers. Here, I would like to mention the idea presented
in the blog "The true goal of influence: Persuasion", in which it was stated that "the key to
changing behavior is balancing the appeal to reason, the appeal to emotion, and the appeal from
credibility" (Mark Schaefer). In this case, readers are persuaded by being presented with the
references of respectable sociologists (and only sociologists).

Tone
Language is basically a rhetoric. Through language, messages are being portrayed to the
audience. Within the use of language, there are several components that help the communicator
to transmit a message in a certain way. Tone in literature, as described in Wikipedia, "expresses
the writer's attitude toward or feelings about the subject matter and audience" (1). Authors
set a tone in literature by conveying emotions/ feelings through words. The way author can do
that is by using certain dictation and syntax (processes that govern the structure of sentences in
a given language, specifically word order and punctuation) (Wikipedia 1).

In "What if Sociologists Had as Much Influence as Economists?", there are a few examples where
author's use of language sends a certain vibe out to the readers. For example, author's statement
"another academic discipline may not have the ear of the presidents but may actually do a better
job of explaining what has gone wrong in large swaths of the United States and other advanced
nations in recent years" transmits a message of economy being more supported by authority,
however implying the contribution that the field of sociology might bring to a particular
explanation (Irwin). I would describe author's tone as reflecting his attitude and as being
connected to his stance on the subject he's writing about. Author's tone appears to be
opinionated, based on the statement mentioned above. By "opinionated" I mean that his stance
sends a message to the readers that other professionals, not mainly economists (in this case the
other professionals are sociologists), should be given a chance to have more impact in the policy-
making process.

So, readers, what do you think? Should sociologists be given a chance to have more say in the
policy-making process than they currently do? Or, is it smarter to leave policy-making decisions
to economists? I'm leaving you with these open-ended questions; I guess your answer will
depend on this rhetoric's influence on you.

Until next time!

Works Cited

"Examples of Ethos, Logos, and Pathos." Your Dictionary,

http://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-ethos-logos-and-pathos.html
Accessed 28 May 2017.
"In Defense of Rhetoric." YouTube, 27 June, 2011,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYMUCz9bHAs&t=3s
Accessed 22 May 2017.
Irwin, Neil. "What if Sociologists Had as Much Influence as Economists?" The New York Times,
17 March, 2017,
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/17/upshot/what-if-sociologists-had-as- much-
influence-as-economists.html?_r=0
Accessed 22 May 2017.
Schaefer, Mark. "The true goal of influence: Persuasion." Mark Schaefer: Marketing. Strategy.
Humanity,
https://www.businessesgrow.com/2016/10/18/persuasion/
Accessed 22 May 2017.
"Tone (literature)." Wikipedia,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tone_(literature)
Accessed 22 May 2017.
"Who is the New York Times' target audience?" Reference,
https://www.reference.com/art-literature/new-york-times- target- audience-
c5e77c29eb68cef4#
Accessed 28 May 2017.