Rhetorical criticism as moral action

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Klumpp, J. F., and Hollihan, T. A. (1989). Rhetorical criticism as moral action. Quarterly Journal of Speech, 75, 84-87.

Contents 1 Critic's role in social change? 2 Others who have engaged 2.1 Wander, Philip 3 Case study: Dershowitz and Moses' Arrest 3.1 Contrast of feminism with rationality 3.2 Contrast of prostitute and john 3.3 Fairness 3.4 Class-based distinction 3.5 Dividing feminists 4 Tradition of studying symbolic form 4.1 To a rhetoric of symbols 5 Imperatives for Criticism of Social rhetoric 5.1 Moral imperative 5.1.1 Appreciation as tacit approval 5.2 Rhetorical imperative 6 The critical personae 6.1 Teacher 6.2 Interpreter 6.3 Social actor 7 Conclusion

Critic's role in social change?

Scott & Smith, 1969:

• Rhetoric is tied to the social order
• In some cases, celebrating "civility and decorum" is accepting oppression
• Rhetorical critics who recognized power struggle engaged with social change

Many alternative theories of rhetoric have been proposed but

• "Naive to the very force of rhetoric which they purport to study" (84)

Others who have engaged

Wander, Philip

• Rhetorical critics have a social obligation
• Engage with "material conditions"
• Challenged critics to take a stand on social issues

Case study: Dershowitz and Moses' Arrest

Two dichotomies shape the drama (85)

Contrast of feminism with rationality

• Analyzes adjectives used to describe feminists

Contrast of prostitute and john

• Economic metaphor to describe this interaction
• One dimensional prostitute / multidimensional john

Fairness

• Argument for "equality"

Class-based distinction

• Middle/Upper-class johns
• Working class prostitutes
• Role of law (Dersh is law prof) in maintaining class distinctions

Dividing feminists

• Using class distinctions to indicate separation
• "The liberal thus opens his arms to accept those who will accept his hierarchy and maintain the power of his class." (87)

Tradition of studying symbolic form

Rhetoric as symbolic form

• Social order is performed in language (88)
• Neccesitates a moral engagement (87)
• Susanne Langer, Kenneth Burke, Ernest Bormann, Michael McGee, Walter Fisher
  • Fisher, "rhetorical fictions" (88)

To a rhetoric of symbols

Rather than individuals, we analyze

• "voices in a social milieu" (88)
• "shift the rhetor to be socially grounded" (88)

Rhetoric transforms material contexts into social order (89)

"Motive view of rhetoric" (Fisher..) (89)

• "Questions of motive directly address action"
• Thus connecting rhetoric to motive explicitly connects rhetoric to social order

Two clusters of socially-focused rhetorical study (90)

• Flow of rhetorical forms and social actions
  • e.g. Bormann on "city on the hill"
  • Ivie justification of war-making
  • Scott/Smith "rhetoric of confrontation"
• Rhetorical action at the moment of encounter with the novel
  • Klumpp and Hollihan, public response to offensive humor by Earl Butz
  • Jenson, influence of family metaphor on Brit response to Amer revolution

Imperatives for Criticism of Social rhetoric

In the above crit of Dershowitz,

• consistent with contemporary rhetorical study
• engaging in a criticism implied in the symbolic understanding of rhetorical processes (90)
• "beyond the overt message of the column to reach into a rhetorical purpose ... not the conscious focus of the speaker." (90)
• discuss implications of social class on the rhetoric (90)
• beyond discussions of rhetorical strategy to "the social form promoted by this rhetoric." (90)

Moral imperative

• Social values shaped through rhetoric in response to problems, opportunities (90)
• Observing moments of crisis/tension, reveal ways in which rhetoric used to defend, advance competing values
• Critics are moral actors
  • Burke, critics rupture "social mystery" by calling into question the way that rhetoric is used to implicitly reinforce a particular set of values

Appreciation as tacit approval

• When assessing effectiveness, distinguish from supporting the position

Rhetorical imperative

• Moral criticism is not the same as rhetorical crit that acknowledges interpenetration between rhetoric and social order (91)
• Critique must rest on the language that advances a hierarchy rather than the hierarchy itself

The critical personae

• Is the critical morally neutral? (An import from contact with social science?) (92)
• Two resulting alienating self-images:
  • OBJECTIVE, scientific, effectivieness
  • ARTISTIC, examining qualities of the artifact

The socially conscious critic: (92)

• Teacher
• Interpreter
• Social actor

Teacher

C. Wright Mills wrestling with "mass" and "public" (92)

• Public speaking emerges from personal, collective experience
• Infused with Enlightenment emphasis on reason

"Mills lamented the emergence of the mass - inert receiver of communication manipulated by the power elites - and public speaking turned to teaching students to be effective persuaders and wary consumers of persuasion." (92)

Interpreter

Hermeneutic

• Human is critic of social action, Burke (93)
• "To live symbolically is to engage socially in the interpretation of social and physical experience"
• "Social comm places experience into moral and historical contet" (93)

Social actor

Merger of the Teacher and Interpreter

"The critic talks and writes in a social community that composes community as it communicates to construct meaning." (93)

Critical observation is "nontrivial" (94)

• "The critic is socially linked to society"

Conclusion

Rhetorical critics must be self-conscious,

• engage the moral (94)