Adam Goryca

Project 2

Todd Breijak

15 October 2014

Underlying Reasons

            Everything happens for a reason—that is what they say, right?  I’m not here to argue this point; I am here to provide you with different viewpoints on what these reasons might be.  For instance, why did crime rates drop in the “roaring 90’s”?  As the name implies, most accredited it to the booming economy.  A decrease in unemployment and poverty caused a general lack in the necessity of crime for most individuals.  This seems to be a very concrete cause and effect relationship, if you only look at the surface of this issue.  Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, however, do the polar opposite throughout their work titled, Freakonomics: The Hidden Side of Everything.  Their viewpoint on the cause of the plummeting crime rates of the 90’s takes a very different spin on the topic.  To understand this progressive perspective you must first recall the Supreme Court Case of Roe vs. Wade—which legalized abortion in the mid 70’s.  While not being blind to the fact that back room abortions did occur before this watershed moment of a court case, it is safe to assume the number of abortions increased drastically once a doctor was administering them safely and legally.  To see how this relates to the dropping crime rates though, you have to look at these two moments of history chronologically.  The Roe vs. Wade case was deliberated on in the beginning of 1973, seventeen years before the 90’s.  The point Levitt and Dubner make is that this landmark court case had more of a profound impact than anyone ever imagined.  While not only providing women with their “right to privacy”, it also decreased the number of children being born into a low income or hostile environment.  You may call the conclusion drawn here stereotypical and irrational, but after reading their explanation, it may not seem all that unlikely after all.  In Freakonomics: The Hidden Side of Everything, Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner effectively use rhetorical strategies and rhetorical appeals to provide their audience with a different vantage point on reasons why we, as humans, do what we do. 

            To make their point, Levitt and Dubner use many rhetorical strategies.  One of their most commonly used strategies is called an allusion: where an author makes reference to an event, literary work, or person.  For example, while discussing the prevalence of cheating and corruption in sumo wrestling, they look at certain major events where cheating came into question.  Like when they bring up how, “Several years ago, two former sumo wrestlers came forward with extensive allegations of match rigging—and more.” (Levitt and Hubner, 42)  Both of these wrestlers, after receiving many threats from the Yakuza, or Japanese Mob, for speaking out, were killed within hours of the major press conference where they planned to publicly reveal all of the corruptness that the Japanese Sumo Association allows.  Another strategy used by Levitt and Dubner is an enumeration.  This is when an author makes a point and then elaborates on it with details.  An example that comes to mind is when they are discussing methods for catching the one teacher, out of thousands, who changed answers on their student’s standardized tests to bring up the classroom average.  A technique they use is to, “Search for unusual answer patterns in a given classroom: blocks of identical answers, for instance, especially among the harder questions.”  Their first statement is very vague, so to elaborate on their point they add in what unusual answer patterns might be and where they could be found.  These are just a few of the many rhetorical strategies Levitt and Dubner use to convince you of their viewpoints.

               In any persuasive work rhetorical appeals are a major factor that has to be analyzed; this being of course the use of ethos and logos.  Ethos is when you appeal to someone’s ethics, most easily done by including an accurate portrayal of the opposition’s argument.  Levitt and Dubner do this in just about every argument throughout the book simply because it is an effective way to recognize another viewpoint on a topic, while quickly downgrading it in favor of your own.  While talking about how legalizing abortions in the 70’s caused plummeting crime rates in the 90’s, they address how critics have pointed out that, just like any illegal matter, if a women wanted an abortion she could have received one just as easily before the Roe vs. Wade ruling.  To counter this argument they bring up how expensive and dangerous backroom abortions are, which would have been a clear deterrence for many women before they were made legal and readily available.  This is how an author can use Ethos to sway a reader to their side.

            Logos appeals to a reader’s logic or reason, which can be done with the use of numbers in a real life scenario.  Levitt and Dubner will utilize this strategy in cases where using numbers is an effective means for proving a point, like with the unmotivated real estate agent.  She says that she will get you the top dollar for your home, but is it really worth her time to try and negotiate an extra ten or twenty thousand out of your potential buyers? Levitt and Dubner argue that it is not. 

“First of all, a 6 percent real-estate commission is typically split between the seller’s agent and the buyer’s.  Each agent then kicks back roughly half of her take to the agency.  Which means that only 1.5 percent of the purchase price goes directly in your agent’s pocket.  So on the sale of your $300,000 house, her personal take $18,000 commission is $4,500.  Still not bad, you say… What if, with a little more effort and patience and a few more newspaper adds, she could have sold it for $310,00? Her personal 1.5 percent of the extra $10,000 is a mere $150.” (Levitt and Dubner, 7)

Unless you’re the real-estate agents only client, she will not spend that much more time if it is only worth $150 to her: even though it is worth $9,400 to you.  This is how Levitt and Dubner use logos to add evidence to a claim.

I have not found an article relating to my topic yet. I will add that paragraph once I do.