RHETORICAL ANALYSIS on the article: RIP, Middle Class: 1946-2013 by Edward McClelland

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Rhetorical Analysis of RIP Middle Class: 1946-2013
Government intervention safeguards the rights of the downtrodden in the society. The workers have been ignored and forgotten in the United States (US) since the deregulation of critical sectors of the economy. Edward McClelland article on the death of the blue collar workers demonstrates the shift in fortunes among workers, while most governments continue to kill their efforts to rise in the abyss of the confusion. The author theorizes that previous successes of the US economy were supported by government intervention, especially before the great depression. The author begins the text with a story of a dropout that got a job and earned more than the teacher. During that period workers easily got manufacturing jobs as the economy expanded. Edward allegorizes the seventies as the decade the blue collar aristocrats flaunted their wealth by purchasing speedboats, hunting rifles, motorcycles and Corvette Spring rays. However, the great depression led to the closure of thousands of manufacturing firms, and millions of residents lost their jobs. The story of Galipeau and Voss demonstrates the change of fortunes for the millions of blue collar workers during the period. Nixon’s import tax and Obama’s health care legislation are the few presidents that have taken into consideration the blue collar workers. Edward concludes that the government chose the wrong group, aristocrats, ignoring the workers that were the engine of the booming US economy.

Rhetorical Appeals
Authors prefer to use rhetorical appeals to persuade and influence the reader to take a particular position on an issue. Ethos, logos, and pathos are the primary styles of rhetorical appeals. Ethical considerations such as hard work and morality are the precincts of ethics in the modern society. Ethos uses ethical considerations to persuade readers to take a certain viewpoint on an issue. The use of emotions and the values of the society or reader through stories exemplify the effective use of pathos in most text. The media has often spotlighted the plight of orphans or single mothers as a way to appeal to their viewers emotionally. Logos uses the logical consideration of processes or events to spark interest and form an opinion on certain issues. Perceptively, through either inductive or deductive reasoning, the authors convince the reader to support their viewpoint. Aristotle’s argument that Socrates was mortal and human illustrates conclusions based on evidence or facts to convince readers. The essay evaluates the rhetorical appeals used by the author in the article to convince readers about the death of blue-collar middle-class workers in the USA.
Ethos
The author has extensively used stories and anecdotes to inform and persuade the reader of the struggles faced by workers in the American Society. The stories convey the messages of the moral of the companies’ actions in the society, arousing the reader’s emotional nuance to support the author’s argument. Edward narrates the story of Galipeau and Voss, who got jobs in the manufacturing sector in the 1960s but lost their jobs in the seventies. However, the couple got jobs with massive remuneration in the factory, later losing their jobs in 2004. The couple chose to go back to school and get degrees, after which none could get a job based on their level of literacy. The two opted to work in lower cadre positions in different firms, demonstrating the struggles facing workers in the modern society. Voss got a job paying $2.50 an hour, much less than her salary in the late twentieth century. The story highlights three key aspects of the situation: declining significance of a degree, the state of the economy at different periods and decrease in wages over a period. The strategy appeals to the reader since it is synonymous with blue-collar workers and convince readers that the government is to blame.
Edward intimates that the economic system has worked while the government has failed to intervene in particular situations to safeguard the rights of the workers. Capitalism has concentrated wealth to the rich while the workers have been at the mercy of the rich, without government intervention working for long hours with less pay and under inhumane conditions. Syracuse manufacturing actions to transfer their operations to Singapore, underpinned the importance of the firm to the American workers, after the loss of thousands of jobs. The author educates the readers on the actions of the rich (through large corporations) to increase their fortunes at the detriment of the workers. Consequently, the information arouses the readers’ anger based on the case point given. Furthermore, the actions of the rich underscore the precincts of morals in the society. The actions of Syracuse manufacturing were immoral.
The text’s tone demonstrates the author’s intent on zeroing in on the plight of blue collar workers. The informal tone used in the tone applies to blue collar workers since aristocrats prefer to use formal tones in their communication. The use of contractions is an adequate example of the use of informal tones in the text. The narrator says, “It’s time to declare an end….century (McClelland 558).” The author relates to the category by airing a view synonymous with the workers. Moreover, the article highlights the plight of the youth that spends years in training yet are unable to get meaningful employment opportunities in the economy. The author’s use of ethos has effectively appealed to the reader and influenced readers to support Edward’s argument.
Pathos
The author uses pathos to emotional support ideas and influences the reader to agree with the author’s viewpoint. Edward elaborates the American dream and demonstrates how the government has decimated Americans’ dreams. Americans believe in the virtues of hard work, fairness and welfare assistance to the poor. The Affordable Care Act proposed by the Obama administration faced opposition from the wealthy, demonstrating their emotional ignorance of the poor. Today the youth are distraught due to lack of jobs, increasing cases of suicides committed by youths. The text elaborates on the different time periods and the economic atrocities done by previous presidents such as the enactment of NAFTA, a free trade accord for North American countries and Mexico. The treaty many of the manufacturing jobs to Mexico, reducing employment positions available in the nation. Reagan’s administration actions to dismiss workers arbitrary have been perfected by private enterprises, reducing the membership of workers in unions, with more than 20% of the total workforce failing to join unions.
The author’s vivid description of the past, analysis of the current struggles of the poor and prediction of dire struggles in the future entirely uses pathos to persuade the reader. The author demonstrates that before the Depression jobs were plenty but faded after the 2008 economic slump. Currently, it is hard for workers to get jobs in the economy, while the jobs available pay poorly, adversely affecting the workers’ welfare. The narration and analysis convince the reader of an urgent need to change the nation’s policies, inspiring blue collar workers to fight for activism or shifts in the country.
Logos
The author uses statistics to make logical conclusions on the state of affairs in the country. Statistics inform the reader of the changes that have occurred in the government due to government foul play. Edward indicates that middle-class workers earned nearly two-thirds of the national income have seen their earnings decline from 62% to 45%. The reduction unfairly takes into consideration the rise in inflation over the period, thus reducing the purchasing power of money. Furthermore, the allusion that workers are working to reducing their debt enthuses the reader logically conclude that the government has been acting cruelly against its citizens. Recently, a group of college students went to the courts to seek reprieve from paying their loans arguing that the colleges and the state convinced the students of getting jobs after completing education, forcing the students to take loans which the students are now unable to pay. However, the author fails to effectively use logos to persuade the reader, since the statistics mentioned lack proof or citation. The author has essentially ignored citing sources, ultimately reducing the text as a charade against the government. Exemplary authors cite their sources to ensure that the reader can read more about the information is given from the secondary text, to affirm whether the text gives factual or false evidence. Conclusively, the author efficiently uses rhetorical appeals to inform and persuade the reader to accept the author’s argument in the state of misery facing blue collar workers in the United States.
Works Cited
McClelland, Edward.”RIP, the middle class: 1946-2013.” International Movement for Equality (2013). Print.