Marx Rhet X Marx the Term Paper

45). With the ideology of the ownership class necessarily becoming the dominant ideology throughout the world not simply through the spread of industry and capitalism but through dramatic changes in international trade and economies brought about by capitalist/industrialist changes in single countries, the bourgeoisie acquires (or acquired) dramatic power to shape global events and politics through their shaping of the thoughts that can be had and the modes by which they can be expressed -- through their control over rhetorical interpretations and expression, in other words.

Implications of Marx's Rhetorical Theory

Using a Marxist approach to rhetorical theory has a variety of benefits and drawbacks to theorists and critics working from many different perspectives. The benefits to such a perspective are clear, if somewhat ominous -- they give concrete and measurable ways in which to develop an understanding of thought itself, and of how thoughts are created and expressed (and how thoughts can be created and expressed). Identifying the dominant ideology, i.e. The capitalist/industrialist ideology according to Marx, identifies the types of thought and modes of thinking that can be expressed and utilized by individuals, and allows for cross-cultural comparisons of materialism and consciousness (through such things as language use) to identify the varying effects of different specific forces. In addition, Marx's perspective on rhetoric and consciousness provides a clear and concrete means of achieving material effects through rhetorical manipulations, or conversely to determine how changes in the material world might/do/have affected changes in consciousness and rhetoric. Marx's theory is not alone in taking rhetoric out of the realm of the abstract and providing a description of its concrete interactions in the material world, but it is one of the most complete and well-defined rhetorical approaches in this regard.

The drawbacks of a Marxist approach to rhetoric are not quite as easily explained, but are also very much present. First and foremost is the extreme politicization of rhetorical understandings and basic consciousness -- something that is an unavoidable and even an explicitly important part of Marx's theory. Truly everything is political in Marx's view, and this can make discussions and dialogues with other rhetorical theories/theorists quite difficult when this basic premise of politicization is disagreed with. The other foundational element of Marx's theory, namely that all rhetorical interpretations and understandings are tied to class and issues of economics -- the very concretization of rhetoric that is so important and revolutionary in Marx's theory -- can provide incredibly narrow and arguably even myopic readings of certain texts that are meant to exist outside of the concrete and material world. The Marxist argument is, of course, that no text can actually exist outside of the material facts of its creation, but this insistence highly limits the possible interpretations of texts that are more "artistic" or non-fact based, such as poetry.

Conclusion

Karl Marx is rightly considered one of the most important critics and philosophers of the modern era, not necessarily because he was correct in all of his conclusions but because his conclusions were profound departures from existing thought. Though his work does not explicitly deal with rhetoric to a large degree, the implications of his writings on the nature of human thought and consciousness are undeniably related to rhetorical theory. Though there are significant drawbacks to adopting a solely Marxist approach to rhetorical interpretation and creation, there are many benefits to the ability to see through a Marxist lens.

Works Cited

Marx, Karl and Engels, Frederick. Manifesto of the Communist Party. 1848. Accessed 28 February 2013. http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/download/pdf/Manifesto.pdf

Marx, Karl. The German Ideology. 1845. Accessed 28 February 2013. http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/german-ideology/ch01a.htm