Stanley Fish's Argument Essay: Identity Politics

748 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Critical thinking and ethical decision making

When ‘Identity Politics’ Is Rational by Stanley Fish is an excellent example of an argumentative essay because it attempts to convince the reader that his claim is valid using a series of statements to support his argument while considering counter evidence. The essay contains common elements found in an argumentative essay. For example, the first statement of an argumentative essay should be a general statement, designed to attract the reader’s attention. Fish begins his essay, “If there’s anything everyone is against in these election times, it’s ‘identity politics.’”
For an argument to be constructive all participants must first agree on what they are discussing. What is identity politics? Fish answers this in his next sentence by presenting …show more content…

Non-group members are less likely to have had the same experiences as in-group members, therefore non-group members are less likely to share same viewpoint on an issue; furthermore, they are less likely to recognize the group’s issues as an issue at all.
Each controversial issue has two sides. Once Fish supports his position he explores what others think in his essay. For example, “Stanley Crouch believes that the project of liberal universalizing is now pretty much complete and that ‘elements of distinction’ have become secondary to the power of human qualities with which anyone can identify or reject.”
Each opposing argument is followed by a paragraph that addresses the opposition and explains why his position is better. “But his judgment is belied by almost everything that is going on in this campaign. As I write this I am watching the returns from the ‘Potomac Primary’ and the news is being presented entirely in racial, ethnic, and gender terms. Every newspaper or magazine article I read does the same thing. The Obama and Clinton campaigns accuse each other of playing the race card or the gender card. An Hispanic superdelegate warns that by replacing her Latino campaign manager with a black one, Senator Clinton risks losing his vote and the vote of other Hispanic delegates he is in the process of

Show More
Related

  • The Myth Of A Polarized America Chapter 1 Summary

    2206 Words  | 5 Pages

    In chapter one, Fiorina begins with a powerful quote from Pat Buchanan’s 1992 speech at the Republican National Convention, “There is a religious war…a cultural war as critical to the…nation…as the cold war…for this war is for the soul of America” (Fiorina et al. 1). Using several other quotes, he illustrates the belief that the nation is torn between personal morals and extreme conservative notions. He then states his belief that these sentiments are complete nonsense, and exaggerations. There is no culture war according to Fiorina, no war for the soul of America. Describing the culture war as a myth caused by lack of information, misrepresentation of facts by activists, and selective media coverage. He suggests that Americans are essentially bystanders avoiding the cross fire between the left and right wing activists. Furthermore, he contrasts that it is the American choices that are polarized due to politicians, thus creating the appearance of a politically polarized society. Finally, he concludes the first chapter by outlining his argument in the following chapters. Fiorina does an exceptional job hooking the reader with his first chapter, the quotes and various examples of how America is portrayed as polarized are effective in swaying the audience to agree and then he shocks the reader by debunking all previous statements with his personal beliefs and outline for how he plans to prove his argument.

    Read More

  • Of Lyricism In Claudia Rankine's Citizen: An American Lyric?

    1022 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Claudia Rankine’s 2014 book, Citizen: An American Lyric, she promotes the idea of a “post-race” society, captivating the reader into a position of self-reflection. The lyricism of her prose explores the definition of the titular ‘citizen’, thereby encouraging and promoting change. Her incentive is not to change the minds of readers, only broaden scope of the world they already have, honing on the undeniable reality of the world. She invites her reader to emotions of grief and outrage, which leads the reader toward self-awareness. Citizen seeks to inspire her audience through the presentation of identity politics in the modern-day. It is a work premised on self-awareness to unconscious thoughts and actions. Her use of the second person,

    Read More

  • Analysis Of We Should Relinquish Some Liberty In Exchange For Security

    872 Words  | 2 Pages

    With the interest of the reader piqued, she uses the rest of her essay to attempt persuade readers to accept her argument, primarily through appeals to logos, and language targeted for a conservative audience.

    Read More

  • A Critique of Thomas B. Stoddard’s Gay Marriages: Make Them Legal

    1110 Words  | 3 Pages

    S., & Bedau H. (Eds.) Current issues and enduring questions: a guide to critical thinking and argument, with readings. (pp.551-552). Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s.

    Read More

  • Thomson Highway's The Rez Sisters

    1309 Words  | 3 Pages

    Identity is 'how you view yourself and your life.'; (p. 12 Knots in a String.) Your identity helps you determine where you think you fit in, in your life. It is 'a rich complexity of images, ideas and associations.';(p. 12 Knots in a String.) It is given that as we go through our lives and encounter different experiences our identity of yourselves and where we belong may change. As this happens we may gain or relinquish new values and from this identity and image our influenced. 'A bad self-image and low self-esteem may form part of identity?but often the cause is not a loss of identity itself so much as a loss of belonging.'; Social psychologists suggest that identity is closely related to our culture. Native people today have been faced with this challenge against their identity as they are increasingly faced with a non-native society. I will prove that the play The Rez Sisters showed this loss of identity and loss of belonging. When a native person leaves the reservation to go and start a new life in a city they are forced to adapt to a lifestyle they are not accustomed to. They do not feel as though they fit in or belong to any particular culture. They are faced with extreme racism and stereotypes from other people in the nonreservational society.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Fighting For Our Lives

    771 Words  | 2 Pages

    Deborah Tannen’s, “Fighting For Our Lives,” explores the ideas and concepts behind human sociology. She delves into the sociolinguistic relationship between women and men in conversation. Tannen amplifies the importance between language and gender and how they affect interpersonal relationships. Tannen showcases her analytical thinking processes by using rhetorical strategies to support her claim on conflicted communication within the argument culture. Specifically, focusing on politics, the law, education, spousal relationships, the media and within work environments. She gives many examples to support her claim by using figurative language and literary devices such as metaphors and logic and reasoning to accurately convey her message.

    Read More

  • An Analysis of the Rhetorical Elements of Political Campaign Advertisements

    1054 Words  | 3 Pages

    It is very common among the United States’ political sphere to rely heavily on T.V. commercials during election season; this is after all the most effective way to spread a message to millions of voters in order to gain their support. The presidential election of 2008 was not the exception; candidates and interest groups spent 2.6 billion dollars on advertising that year from which 2 billion were used exclusively for broadcast television (Seelye 2008.) Although the effectiveness of these advertisements is relatively small compared to the money spent on them (Liasson 2012), it is important for American voters to think critically about the information and arguments presented by these ads. An analysis of the rhetoric in four of the political campaign commercials of the 2008 presidential election reveals the different informal fallacies utilized to gain support for one of the candidates or misguide the public about the opposing candidate.

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis of Two Sentences

    980 Words  | 2 Pages

    Rhetoric may refer to the practice of argumentation that aims to influence or modify the perspectives of the target audience (Herrick, 2005, p. 3). Critically analysing the rhetoric context of an article could help us better apprehend the writer’s rhetoric moves as analytical readers, and attain useful techniques to improve as proficient writers. This essay will be evaluating and comparing the following sentences, which both successfully delivered powerful messages within the gender equality arena yet vary in terms of their rhetorical situation, rhetorical appeals, tone, structure and style.

    Read More

  • False Consensus Effect

    1975 Words  | 4 Pages

    Much of the research on false consensus has demonstrated that people tend to over project how many members of their in-group are likely to share their attitudes and behaviors. This effect diminishes when compared to an out-group. It is thought that this occurs because people feel that people who they do not consider to share a group identity with will likely have different basic attitudes and behaviors than they. An important aspect of the literature is that the vast majority of college students use the primary subjects. While this is extremely convenient for researchers, it may not give us a clear picture of false consensus, in that it is possible that college students' limited "real-world experience" may be influencing their projections.

    Read More

  • Social Loafing: What Social Group Do You Fit In?

    1141 Words  | 3 Pages

    Our behavior is an obvious effect of how groups affect us. Social facilitation for example occurs when an indivisual changes their performance because others are around (Cacioppo & Freberg, 2014). When Dap and Half-Pint where in the library, Half- Pint acted in a calm relatable matter, yet around the Gamma recruits he conformed to the dumb things they did. Social loafing also affects people within a group. Social loafing is the reduced motivation and effort shown by individuals working in a group as opposed to working alone (Cacioppo & Freberg, 2014). An example of social loafing would be when Dap’s group decided to march in the parade, the people supporting him wouldn’t need to apply as much effort to protest together than they would alone. School Daze also conveys the message of being lost in the crowd, which is Deindividuation. Deindividuation is the lost of personal identity within the crowd (Cacioppo & Freberg, 2014). Sororities and fraternities have the idea that all members are one. Last, but not least a group can affect one’s attitude, or the way you feel about something. The common attitudes of the sororities and fraternities lead to prejudice. Prejudice is a prejudgment, usually negative, of another person on the basis of his or her membership in a group. In School Daze, Rachael and Jane had a rivalry because they had two different points of view on hair, causing the entire group to dislike each other because they were apart of a separate group. As the saying goes, you are the company you

    Read More

  • Groupthink

    975 Words  | 2 Pages

    ... that areas of expertise can be exploited, different people are good at different things. Groups can discuss material, and that discussion can improve the quality of the decision. Groups are less likely to suffer from judgmental biases that individuals have when they make decisions. People are more likely to follow through on decisions made by groups that they are connected to. Also, more monumental decisions can be made in groups, because one member will not be singled out for blame, making the entire group responsible.

    Read More

  • Racial Profiling or Racist Profiling?

    1319 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...Q Researcher 14 Dec. 2001: n. pag. Rpt. in Current Issues and Enduring Questions: A Guide to Critical Thinking and Argument, with Readings. Ed. Sylvan Barnet and Hugo Bedau. 9th ed. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin’s, 2011. 527-528. Print.

    Read More

  • Melian Dialogue as interpreted through perspectives of Realism, Liberalism, and Constructivism

    1175 Words  | 3 Pages

    ...ialogue are enveloped in the great ‘ism’ constructs for which this extremely modern political theory is known (Hughes, Chp.3). And as the Constructivist sees social groups interacting within the world, he contributes to our understanding of the groups through the invention of identity. The Constructivists label groups of people with common interests and gives words with which to speak of rising ideas and philosophies.

    Read More

  • The Leader-Member Exchange Theory

    1652 Words  | 4 Pages

    Leaders will often separate in-group and out-group members based on similarities of the group member and the leader. Other characteristics that can play into it are age, gender, or even a member’s personality. A member can be granted in-group status if the leader thinks the member is competent and is going above and beyond to perform the job functions. As mentioned the two groups that members can fall into are in-group and out-group. In-group members are those that share similarities with the leader. Those similarities can be personality, work ethic, common interests, or even alma maters. In-group members often go above and beyond their job description and the leader does more for these members. In-group members will have their opinions and work ideas looked at in higher regard than out-group members. In-group members typically have higher job satisfaction within the group and are less likely to experience turnover. In-group members are often promoted within the organization f...

    Read More

  • The Quest For Identity

    645 Words  | 2 Pages

    Zora Neal Hurston’s book, Their Eyes Were Watching God, reveals one of life’s most relevant purposes that stretches across cultures and relates to every aspect of enlightenment. The novel examines the life of the strong-willed Janie Crawford, as she goes down the path of self-discovery by way of her past relationships. Ideas regarding the path of liberation date all the way back to the teachings of Siddhartha. Yet, its concept is still recycled in the twenty-first century, as it inspires all humanity to look beyond the “horizon,” as Janie explains. Self-identification, or self-fulfillment, is a theme that persists throughout the book, remaining a quest for Janie Crawford to discover, from the time she begins to tell the story to her best friend, Pheoby Watson. Hurston makes a point at the beginning of the novel to separate the male and female identities from one another. This is important for the reader to note. The theme for identity, as it relates to Janie, carefully unfolds as the story goes on to expand the depths of the female interior.

    Read More

More about Stanley Fish's Argument Essay: Identity Politics

Open Document