Students in Dr. Nicole Pfannenstiel’s summer 2025 writing seminar crafted blog posts exploring Rhetoric & Composition. Over the next several weeks, we will share their work in this space to bring visibility to their posts and offer a variety of perspectives on pertinent topics within Rhetoric & Composition. These posts are written by graduate students currently in the MA and M.Ed. English programs.
Rhetoric Definition: Power in Government Systems
By: Renée Curtis
Definition:
Rhetoric is the use of language in order to persuade or inform, depending on the amount of room it is given by the existing government structure or society, it gives people the power to express themselves and also the power of influence.
Explanation:
The early criticisms of rhetoric were based on the idea that rhetoric can be given into the wrong hands, which asserts already that people were suspicious of the power that rhetoric holds or could give someone. In addition, some believed that the teaching of rhetoric should only belong to a small elite that are the ones ruling. In more democratic forms of government, because it requires the voice of the people to operate and progress, every voice to some capacity matters, and if every voice matters, of course it makes sense that everyone should have some sort of rhetorical education.
Rhetoric at its base is communication and discourse. Communication and discourse promote efficiency and progress in interactions, communities, companies, government, etc. To operate in a democracy, there needs to be communication and negotiation – ideas need to be passed between people and there needs to be some back-and-forth discourse to get people the things they want. Without discourse, there is no progress; if new ideas are not introduced and old ideas are not challenged, there is no change. Rhetoric can only exist if there is room for it: “If there is no scope for such negotiation, there is no democracy and no rhetoric” (Andrews 2013).
While rhetoric does support freedom, and while for the most part it operates for the common good, it is not always used for good, which as previously mentioned, is what people were afraid of when it came to people using rhetoric. It can be used to make great change like inspiring people during the Civil Rights Movement to promote equality, but it can also be used by someone with ill intent to another person or to a large group of people. The most obvious example is how Adolf Hitler radicalized the Germans; however, rhetoric is not to be blamed. The person using it in this way is to be blamed. When someone uses it for ill intent and control, they also then want to control or eliminate the rhetoric of others and only want to keep the knowledge of rhetoric to themselves and a small group of people – why do many voices need to be heard or educated when it is only one or a small group governing?
The suspicion of rhetoric is valid in the sense that the fears of its use turning from persuasion to control are rooted in reality, and that reality is evident across time and throughout different societies. When a government has a strong consolidation of power, rhetorical education and knowledge will not exist or will not be promoted for the masses. Inversely, rhetorical education, knowledge, and practice are defining aspects of a free society, typically seen in democracies. There is a clear and understood power in possessing knowledge of rhetoric – when rhetorical knowledge is wielded by the many, the many have power; when it is wielded by the few, the few have power.
Resources to Review
Andrews, R. (2013). A Theory of Contemporary Rhetoric. Taylor & Francis Group.
Francke, H. (2022), “Trust in the academy: a conceptual framework for understanding
trust on academic web profiles”, Journal of Documentation, Vol. 78 No. 7, pp.
192-210. https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-01-2021-0010
Nichols, M. P. (1987). Aristotle’s Defense of Rhetoric. Journal of Politics, 49(3), 657.
https://doi.org/10.2307/2131273
Kroes, R. (2012). The Power of Rhetoric and the Rhetoric of Power: Exploring a tension
within the Obama presidency. European journal of American studies, 7(7-2).
David, M.K. (2014). Language, Power and Manipulation: The Use of Rhetoric in
Maintaining Political Influence. Frontiers of Language and Teaching, 5(1), 164-170.