Persuasion

Definition: an act that attempts to influence beliefs by methods, perceived as civil or otherwise, amenable to the orator, audience and context of the situation.


Example: The march on Washington was part of the Civil Rights Movement for African Americans in the United States where thousands of African Americans marched through Washington D.C. for equal economic and civil liberties. An argument could be made that such grievances could have been communicated through other methods, that did not disrupt the city or appear so forceful, with significantly smaller numbers. However, ethical approaches are not always accessible for certain groups (ex. those deprived of basic human rights) and therefore a statement through spectacle and power may prove to be a more successful attempt to persuade.

Protesters in the Washington D.C. march

Image Credit: Schutzer, Paul. "The March on Washington: Power to the People" The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images. Web. 27 August 2012.

From the text: The line between what is and what is not persuasion has been redrawn as new institutions arise and fall, and different social identities and issues become prominant in the modern world. Griffen states that rhetors make the distinction as "efforts which attempt to effectuate change, not through the forces of wealth or arms, but through the force of persuasion" (10). Persuasion, particularly in its new form, may accurately be called a force and therefore coercion and manipulation may fall within this definition. Griffin agrees, recognizing that persuasion is malleable to each situation and "the critic will operate within the climate of theory of rhetoric and public opinion in which the speakers  and writers he judges were reared, and in which they were practiced" (12).



Works Cited:

Griffin, Leland M. "The Rhetoric of Historical Movements." Readings in the Rhetoric of Social Protest. Browne, Stephen Howard, and Charles E. Morris III, eds. State College, PA: Strata Publishing, Inc., 2013