Chapter 7: Ideological Criticism










An ideology is an organized system of beliefs, values, and ideas that shows a different aspect of the world. These aspects reflect the basis of social economic, political or cultural interest.



The primary components of an Ideology are evaluative beliefs. These beliefs can lead to infinite possible judgments. One example that was brought up in the reading was the issue of immigration:

- Too Many People come to our county.
- Immigrants only come here to live off welfare.
- The Government must send back illegal immigrants.
- Immigrants fill up inexpensive housing and take jobs from people who need them.

In this Clip: A woman gives tells us her beliefs about Immigration and how we should we deal with it. She asks other people for their ideology about this situation.

The textbook, Rhetorical Criticism by Sonja Foss defines Neo-Aristotelian criticism as a method of criticism that was developed to analyze speeches, and discursive text. It is analyzed in a 4 step process: [1] selecting an artifact; [2] analyzing the artifact at; [3] forming the research question; & [4] writing the essay.

There are 3 basic steps in analyzing the artifact. Neo-Aristotelian criticism analyzes biographical information by reconstructing the context in which the artifact occurred, apply the 5 cannons to the artifact, and assess the impact of the artifact to the audience.

The 5 canons of rhetoric are -

1. Invention [the location and creation of ideas & materials for the speech]
2. Organization, location, creation of ideas, & materials for the speech
3. Style [the language of the speech]
4. Memory [mastery of the subject matter, which may include memorization of the speech]
5. Delivery [management of the voice & gestures in the presentation of the speech]