Running head: RHETORICAL ANALAYSIS 1

Rhetorical Analysis:

Social Mobility in China

by Yung-Teh Chow

Jonathan Talavera

The University of Texas at El Paso

RWS 1301

Dr. Vierra

October 12, 2018

RHETORICAL ANALYSIS 2

Abstract

The problem under investigation in this paper is if the author uses rhetorical appeals to

further develop research on social mobility. The person who has the focus in this paper is the

author of Social Mobility in China, Chow Yung-Teh. For this research paper the research that

was conducted was primarily based on social mobility and the three different types of techniques

used in papers ethos, pathos, and logos. What was found because of this research is the book

Social Mobility in China and how it is tied to ethos, pathos, and logos. In conclusion this paper is

a research paper on social mobility and how the source is connected to ethos, pathos, and logos.
RHETORICAL ANALYSIS 3

Rhetorical Analysis:

Social Mobility in China

According to Downs (2017), the meaning of rhetoric is a set of rules that can that can

explain or predict how everything comes together. The question that is being asked is if the

author used rhetorical appeals in a way that will aid research in social mobility. Rhetorical

appeals are very important when it comes to writing because it helps keeps the paper organized

and can help guide the person who is reading the article or paper. The author of Social Mobility

in China uses rhetorical appeals to guide the reader and further develop the knowledge of social

mobility that can advance research.

Yung-Teh is a writer who is passionate with his creations he goes above and beyond to

research and develop papers that will further develop social mobility. According to Yung-Teh

(1966), the people of China can’t rely on the documents provided by the Chinese government for

evidence on social life. Throughout the book Yung-The provides examples of people that do a lot

for the community and are active. Yung-The also provides examples of people who are not

active in the community and are placed in government documents saying that they were very

useful to the community. You are probably thinking this is just a common mistake that they

made but the provided evidence shows the multiple cases of false information. Yung-The uses

the information provided by his colleagues and the information from his own research to tell us

how the government documents work. The genre of this book would be considered a monograph

and this type of genre is mainly focused on further developing a topic it only has one author

usually a professor or someone in an educational position.

A genre is a type of literature or a different style of something such as a different type

of book. An example that was provided during class was a monograph and anthology. These are

both used for educational purposes but one of them provides one point of view while the other
RHETORICAL ANALYSIS 4

provides multiple views on something. According to Vargas-Iglesias (2018) there are different

genres of video games. While this may not prove useful in our class it does provide a definition

from someone other than myself. They explain that you can explain the type of game it is by

looking at the cover showing if it is a horror game. Therefore, saying that genres are different

types of items based on a certain criterion.

Discussion

Audience

According to Park (1982), audience can be described as the people you are writing the

paper or article for. Depending on what you plan to major in or what you are researching can

determine what community or articles you are looking for during your research. Checking what

the author specializes in can also be a useful tool to determine if it has the same interest as your

topic. An example of audience can be found in a book by Stephen King known as IT. While this

doesn’t relate to social mobility it provides an insight on how certain people want to read books

that provide horror because they like the thrill of it.

Ethos

According to Dlugan (2013) ethos can be described as facts that help make a person

sound better or more credible. According to the many positive reviews on the authors books he

is presented as a great writer who gives all the details and has had many books published

including a few recently published books about social class. Some of his earlier work was

published by Atherton press and many other places such as the University of Chicago who

published his first book. When he was researching the topic in china he started during World

War 2 and proceeded to research until around 1952 and started to work on his book. He is

committed to any project that he is on.

RHETORICAL ANALYSIS 5

Pathos

According to Dlugan (2013), pathos is an emotional connection that is trying to be made

with the person reading. The author uses pathos for a moment in the preface when he is talking

about the people he worked with to collect the research. He shows respect and affection to them,

but this is the only instance to where he shows emotion making the book more educational. This

book can be considered clinical due to the lack of emotion presented in this book. For example,

he uses sentences to inform the reader on social mobility “This book presents a study of social

stratification and mobility in traditional Chinese society” (p. # 1). In most educational articles

there isn’t much emotion involved making them clinical. An example of this can be found in an

article written by Covino and Jolliffe that talks about what rhetoric is and how it helps students.

Logos

Logos according to Dlugan (2013) is when the author brings up facts and information

into the reading to help provide information on the topic. In this book the author mainly uses

logos to support what he is trying to say. Yung-The claims that the documents the government

uses are not a reliable source of information. He later goes to explain what the author provides

examples of people who were cheated out of food or money because of a wrong calculation on a

piece of paper. For this topic, the discourse community would be the research team that helped

the author get the research. An example of logos in an article by Ann Johns is her mother who is

involved in a discourse community that has an interest in retirement with the government.

Conclusion
RHETORICAL ANALYSIS 6

The author of social Mobility in China uses rhetorical appeals to further develop his

claim and teach other researchers what he is trying to explain. The author uses rhetorical appeals

to guide the reader through the chapters and explain what he is trying to say this is very

important for the reader, so they aren’t confused. Using rhetorical may be difficult for some

authors at first but once they learn how to use it correctly it can be a powerful tool for success. In

this case Yung-Teh and Downs are both skillful writers who can use rhetorical the right way.
RHETORICAL ANALYSIS 7

References

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cfkQvGp8bgAL7i7HR7aoSyX48mqTTRrIzbKiZ0M6ADxq73Oo6RbRAdCyIjtI5jOabU

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y5qoX5oMlkO9F5MiDkhFLDj0Fl8ZriG0VI8gU4hJkF0aZgOMgxWWlpyeaDgrghJS2I0

1FA7H-

X_iGC9v6Qqxm7LgPUdPpk0BV2GfjX0wE15ioBTAcqK3XQ6SdXi0H6foEgNuD&attr

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Downs, D. (2017). Rhetoric: Making sense of human interaction and meaning-making. In D. D.

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Johns, A. M. (1997) Discourse Communities and communities or practice: membership, conflict,

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Park, D.B. (1982). The Meanings of “Audience”. College English, 44(3). 247-257.

Swales, J. (2014). The concept of discourse community. Wardle and downs, 215-228

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Yung-Teh, C. (1966). Social mobility in china