The Development of Freedom

Assignment: For this writing assignment, select a scholarly article from the Hunt Library on a subject that interests you. Write an essay, of approximately 450 – 500 words, in which you:Identify the elements of the rhetorical situation – introduction (1st paragraph of essay) Article title and author(s) – provide the link to the article Topic – the subject Audience – the readers (both primary and secondary audience) Purpose – the reason for writing (informative or persuasive) Thesis statement – a claim about the overall effectiveness of the textSummarize the article – body (2nd paragraph of essay) Summary – the thesis and major supporting points Objective tone – do not insert your own opinion or evaluationSelect 3-4 rhetorical strategies from the text – body (3rd and 4th paragraphs of essay) Form (organization and format) Style (sentence design, word choice, and use of figurative language) Types of evidence/support (facts, quotes, statistics, case studies, etc.) Appeal to logos (logic) Appeal to ethos (credibility) Appeal to pathos (emotions)Analyze those strategies Identify each of the selected strategies. Give an example from the text for each selected strategy. Evaluate the effectiveness of these strategies – conclusion (5th paragraph) Explain why the strategies successfully appeal to the audience (or why they do not). Explain how the strategies accomplish (or do not) the purpose of the author(s).

ANSWER

The Development, Freedom and Rising Happiness

The article is titled development, freedom, and rising happiness. The article is written by four authors. Ronald Inglehart, Roberto Foa, Christopher Peterson and Christian Welzel. The article is about the relationship between development and the rise in happiness within a society. The authors are trying to decipher the relationship between development and the rise in happiness within a community. The article revolves around happiness and whether or not happiness fluctuates or whether it is constant. The primary audience of this article could be psychologists and sociologists who are interested in understanding factors that affect happiness in a community or society. The secondary audience is members of society who are interested in understanding how economic factors affect their happiness. The article is informative as it provides information on the topic. The overall idea of the article is to identify the impact of development on the rise of happiness, and the article informs a person on the impact of subjective well-being on the happiness levels of a person.

According to Inglehart et al. (2008), people’s happiness levels change, but that does not mean that the happiness levels of a society change. The happiness levels of a person might be higher, especially after experiencing the effects of marital transitions on life satisfaction. However, the social comparison theory shows that the happiness levels will not change because the variation in happiness in different individuals will cancel each other out.

The article is structurally organized, with each topic sentence being followed by supporting sentences. The theoretical framework, for example, discusses the importance of determining the happiness of nations but then talks about it being more important to determine why happiness has changed. The statement is further supported through a statement that talks about the psychological well-being of the nation being among the factors that could contribute towards the happiness of a nation. The authors apply logos to explain the main points of the discussion.

The logical arguments in this article are given using data collected from other surveys to serve as evidence. The author also uses ethos to appeal to the reader’s emotions of the text, and pathos is also applied (Oeppen, 2020). An example of ethos in the article is where the authors talk about finding out that levels of prosperity have a significant impact on the subsequent levels of SWB and life satisfaction.  The use of these strategies and the use of easy and straightforward language in the article appeals to the reader as the reader finds themselves in a situation where they can relate to what the authors are communicating (Kay, 2020). For example, a recently married woman will relate with the authors on the point that a change in marital status can change a person’s happiness.

The strategies employed in this article successfully appeal to the audience because anyone reading the article can identify with what the authors are saying. They find that the information being conveyed relates to their life in one way. The strategies used in the article accomplish the aim of the authors, which is to inform its audience on the relationship between economic stability, development, and happiness. The use of logos is most effective because the authors aim to give information and supporting evidence.

References

Inglehart, R., Foa, R., Peterson, C., & Welzel, C. (2008). Development, freedom, and rising happiness: A global perspective (1981–2007). Perspectives on psychological science, 3(4), 264-285.

Kay, E. (2020). Ethos, logos, and pathos-the makings of a great research paper?

Oeppen Hill, J. H. (2020). Logos, ethos, pathos, and the marketing of higher education. Journal of Marketing for Higher Education, 30(1), 87-104.