Annotated Bibliography
Burke, Kenneth. A Rhetoric of Motives. University of California Press, 1969. Print.
Kenneth Burke has compiled revolutionary work on the subject of rhetoric and its relation to identification. This is the groundwork on which the research is centered. This book covers a large scope of topics related to rhetoric, from classic literature to Marx and relates it to human relations. I will be focusing on his notion of “consubstantiality”, and will also use this text to explore his view of the nature of man as a symbol-using animal and property. Most of the focus will be on the first section titled “The Range of Rhetoric.” In this text, Burke makes strong connections between persuasion and identification. Some more fundamental concepts about persuasion will be taken from the “Traditional Principles of Rhetoric” section. Throughout the entirety of the work, he is elaborating on his definition of rhetoric as “the use of words by human agents to form attitudes or induce actions in other human agents.”
Although this book is fundamental, the writing assumes a strong background in philosophy and communications theories. Burke’s writing style is often dense, seemingly abstract, and difficult to piece together. For someone only beginning to dive into his work, it is necessary to have background reading as well.
Christiansen, Jordan. "Identification: The Missing Link Within the Rhetoric of Social Movements." Kansas State University, 2014. Web. 2 Nov. 2014.
<http://krex.k-state.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/2097/17678/JordanChristiansen2014.pdf?sequence=1>
Christiansen’s thesis offers a recent approach to Burke’s “Rhetoric of Motives” with a focus on the theme of identification. Although he explores this topic through the lens of modern social movements in the United States, his background summaries of Burke in Chapters 1 and 2 thoroughly break down the rhetorician’s complex ideas and make this an excellent introductory work. Even if Christiansen’s case studies are not useful, the analysis of Burke that he weaves into his discussion of the movements and the different ways to examine identification through them is very helpful to understand Burke.
Christiansen touches on a broad array of topics within Rhetoric of Motives. He discusses the difference between conscious and subconscious identification, “identification through a common enemy” and “identification as a means to an end.” He uses both direct quotes from Burke and from critics writing about Burke. Christiansen is very clear in his writing, especially when establishing connections between different concepts such as persuasion, identification, and consubstantiality. He includes how Burke’s theories affect the autonomy of the individual as well as how they function in a group when they are consubstantial.
Gosling, Samuel D., and Sei Jin Ko. A Room With a Cue: Personality Judgments Based on Offices and Bedrooms (n.d.): n. pag. University of Texas, 10 Sept. 2001. Web. <http://gosling.psy.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/JPSP02-Roomwithacue.pdf>.
This article from a scholarly journal was written in order to establish connections between the spaces people occupy most of their time in and personality traits. The researchers observe the decoration of personal living and work environments through “color, patterns, motifs, and decor that fit their own personal taste and aesthetic.” They explain the relation between this decor and “identity claims”, which can be either cultural or personal statements. This article differentiates between interior and exterior behavior, and touches on the way that demographics such as race and sex factor in. The second half of the study is how accurate the average person’s perceptions of someone’s room compares to the occupant’s personality. The research includes visual representations of the mechanisms behind a room’s set up, a viewer’s judgement, and the occupants “real conscientiousness”.
The most useful portion is this article was the methodology that I was able to incorporate into my own study of people’s rooms and the room’s connection with identification. Gosling and Ko list a variety of characteristics they call “environmental cues” to focus on when observing a room such as the heaviness of lighting, the level of messiness and organization, the use of space, colorfulness, etc. After quantifying those characteristics, they relate it to personality traits such as extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. The article helped me establish my own specific framework to view the rooms and a clearer way to organize the data.
Holland, Laura Virginia. Counterpoint: Kenneth Burke and Aristotle's Theories of Rhetoric. New York: Philosophical Library, 1959. Print.
Holland’s work deeply unpacks on Burke’s function and definition of rhetoric. She also provides an interesting comparison to Aristotle’s philosophy and view of rhetoric. One of their major differences is how they perceive the rhetoric’s audience. She explains that according to Burke, rhetoric is a social instrument whose essence is persuasion.
This book also provides a thorough examination of Burke’s general philosophies of the nature of man and society, which serve as a useful background to his theories on the use of human language and its role as a form of communication. One of the most useful elements of this book was her breakdown of consubstantiality.
Littlejohn, Stephen W. “Theories of Human Communication.” Cengage Learning, 2008. Web. <http://books.google.com/books/about/Theories_of_Human_Communication.html?id=r3Fk0aRpJM4>
This work is considered a vital text in the field of communication, with discussions of multiple theories with strong summaries that make the works more accessible. The text is useful for introductions into communication through the “Foundations” section which elaborates on basic concepts and principles. However, the later sections of in-depth analysis of complex theory would be more useful for those with background knowledge in the field.
There is a section devoted specifically to Kenneth Burke’s theory of Identification. Littlejohn first introduces Burke in relation to Burke’s theories of language, specifically how language is “emotionally loaded” with no such thing as a “neutral” word. Language is then connected to identification, and how it promotes division or identification. This work is useful for the purpose of distinguishing different kinds of identification - material, idealistic, and formal - and the way they overlap. Littlejohn offers commonplace examples of each that make the distinctions easier to follow. He takes many terms that often seem abstract and hard to grasp in Burke’s own writing and clarifies them, such as Burke’s concepts of “mystification, the “principle of perfection” and how guilt relates the need for identification.
Quigley, Brooke L. ""Identification" as a Key Term in Kenneth Burke's Rhetorical Theory." University of Memphis, n.d. Web. 02 Nov. 2014. <http://ac-journal.org/journal/vol1/iss3/burke/quigley.html>.
This is a brief and concise article from a University’s journal offers an overview of specifically the theme of identification in Rhetoric of Motives. Quigley elaborates on the relationship between identification and communication, which is very useful in the context of my assignment because I wish to correlate how people choose to identify themselves with their desires to connect to other people. This web page also shows the ways that Burke’s concept or identification both follows and strays away from a “traditional understanding of ‘persuasion’”.
This article divides identification into subcategories--identification as something that is semiconscious, self persuasion, mundane, and representative. These could be helpful in assessing the different reasons students have chosen to arrange their rooms a certain way. Quigley discusses Burke’s idea of separateness, guilt, hierarchy, and symbols - all of which help to explain why people try to identify with others the way they do.
Kenneth Burke has compiled revolutionary work on the subject of rhetoric and its relation to identification. This is the groundwork on which the research is centered. This book covers a large scope of topics related to rhetoric, from classic literature to Marx and relates it to human relations. I will be focusing on his notion of “consubstantiality”, and will also use this text to explore his view of the nature of man as a symbol-using animal and property. Most of the focus will be on the first section titled “The Range of Rhetoric.” In this text, Burke makes strong connections between persuasion and identification. Some more fundamental concepts about persuasion will be taken from the “Traditional Principles of Rhetoric” section. Throughout the entirety of the work, he is elaborating on his definition of rhetoric as “the use of words by human agents to form attitudes or induce actions in other human agents.”
Although this book is fundamental, the writing assumes a strong background in philosophy and communications theories. Burke’s writing style is often dense, seemingly abstract, and difficult to piece together. For someone only beginning to dive into his work, it is necessary to have background reading as well.
Christiansen, Jordan. "Identification: The Missing Link Within the Rhetoric of Social Movements." Kansas State University, 2014. Web. 2 Nov. 2014.
<http://krex.k-state.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/2097/17678/JordanChristiansen2014.pdf?sequence=1>
Christiansen’s thesis offers a recent approach to Burke’s “Rhetoric of Motives” with a focus on the theme of identification. Although he explores this topic through the lens of modern social movements in the United States, his background summaries of Burke in Chapters 1 and 2 thoroughly break down the rhetorician’s complex ideas and make this an excellent introductory work. Even if Christiansen’s case studies are not useful, the analysis of Burke that he weaves into his discussion of the movements and the different ways to examine identification through them is very helpful to understand Burke.
Christiansen touches on a broad array of topics within Rhetoric of Motives. He discusses the difference between conscious and subconscious identification, “identification through a common enemy” and “identification as a means to an end.” He uses both direct quotes from Burke and from critics writing about Burke. Christiansen is very clear in his writing, especially when establishing connections between different concepts such as persuasion, identification, and consubstantiality. He includes how Burke’s theories affect the autonomy of the individual as well as how they function in a group when they are consubstantial.
Gosling, Samuel D., and Sei Jin Ko. A Room With a Cue: Personality Judgments Based on Offices and Bedrooms (n.d.): n. pag. University of Texas, 10 Sept. 2001. Web. <http://gosling.psy.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/JPSP02-Roomwithacue.pdf>.
This article from a scholarly journal was written in order to establish connections between the spaces people occupy most of their time in and personality traits. The researchers observe the decoration of personal living and work environments through “color, patterns, motifs, and decor that fit their own personal taste and aesthetic.” They explain the relation between this decor and “identity claims”, which can be either cultural or personal statements. This article differentiates between interior and exterior behavior, and touches on the way that demographics such as race and sex factor in. The second half of the study is how accurate the average person’s perceptions of someone’s room compares to the occupant’s personality. The research includes visual representations of the mechanisms behind a room’s set up, a viewer’s judgement, and the occupants “real conscientiousness”.
The most useful portion is this article was the methodology that I was able to incorporate into my own study of people’s rooms and the room’s connection with identification. Gosling and Ko list a variety of characteristics they call “environmental cues” to focus on when observing a room such as the heaviness of lighting, the level of messiness and organization, the use of space, colorfulness, etc. After quantifying those characteristics, they relate it to personality traits such as extraversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. The article helped me establish my own specific framework to view the rooms and a clearer way to organize the data.
Holland, Laura Virginia. Counterpoint: Kenneth Burke and Aristotle's Theories of Rhetoric. New York: Philosophical Library, 1959. Print.
Holland’s work deeply unpacks on Burke’s function and definition of rhetoric. She also provides an interesting comparison to Aristotle’s philosophy and view of rhetoric. One of their major differences is how they perceive the rhetoric’s audience. She explains that according to Burke, rhetoric is a social instrument whose essence is persuasion.
This book also provides a thorough examination of Burke’s general philosophies of the nature of man and society, which serve as a useful background to his theories on the use of human language and its role as a form of communication. One of the most useful elements of this book was her breakdown of consubstantiality.
Littlejohn, Stephen W. “Theories of Human Communication.” Cengage Learning, 2008. Web. <http://books.google.com/books/about/Theories_of_Human_Communication.html?id=r3Fk0aRpJM4>
This work is considered a vital text in the field of communication, with discussions of multiple theories with strong summaries that make the works more accessible. The text is useful for introductions into communication through the “Foundations” section which elaborates on basic concepts and principles. However, the later sections of in-depth analysis of complex theory would be more useful for those with background knowledge in the field.
There is a section devoted specifically to Kenneth Burke’s theory of Identification. Littlejohn first introduces Burke in relation to Burke’s theories of language, specifically how language is “emotionally loaded” with no such thing as a “neutral” word. Language is then connected to identification, and how it promotes division or identification. This work is useful for the purpose of distinguishing different kinds of identification - material, idealistic, and formal - and the way they overlap. Littlejohn offers commonplace examples of each that make the distinctions easier to follow. He takes many terms that often seem abstract and hard to grasp in Burke’s own writing and clarifies them, such as Burke’s concepts of “mystification, the “principle of perfection” and how guilt relates the need for identification.
Quigley, Brooke L. ""Identification" as a Key Term in Kenneth Burke's Rhetorical Theory." University of Memphis, n.d. Web. 02 Nov. 2014. <http://ac-journal.org/journal/vol1/iss3/burke/quigley.html>.
This is a brief and concise article from a University’s journal offers an overview of specifically the theme of identification in Rhetoric of Motives. Quigley elaborates on the relationship between identification and communication, which is very useful in the context of my assignment because I wish to correlate how people choose to identify themselves with their desires to connect to other people. This web page also shows the ways that Burke’s concept or identification both follows and strays away from a “traditional understanding of ‘persuasion’”.
This article divides identification into subcategories--identification as something that is semiconscious, self persuasion, mundane, and representative. These could be helpful in assessing the different reasons students have chosen to arrange their rooms a certain way. Quigley discusses Burke’s idea of separateness, guilt, hierarchy, and symbols - all of which help to explain why people try to identify with others the way they do.