Social Myths
Myths have muddied the waters between fact and fiction since the time of Plato and the Sophists who transformed the Homeric significance of myth away from “truth” and toward a more complex meaning of, as anthropologist Talal Asad has put it, “a socially useful lie”(Wright 3).
Asad defines a myth quite nicely when he states it as “a socially useful lie.” As discussed in class, myths are created over time and lead people to believe in stereotypes and dominant discourses. The people in charge, factory bosses or those in powerful, governmental positions, create the dominant discourses, which are large-scale ideas that often define a groups of people. These dominant discourses are made up of stereotypes. They are used in order to maintain power and control over a group and can be compiled to prove a social myth.
Rhetorical Devices
In relation to rhetoric, the person in power uses rhetorical tropes in order to persuade a group of people to believe in the dominant discourse they are creating and ultimately, the myth. Some of the most basic tropes include ethos, logos and pathos. Ethos establishes credibility in an argument. This can be done by including testimony from a credible source or statistics. Logos is a logical appeal. This is evident in a speech or paper by outlining an argument in a progressive, logical order, with clear transitions. Finally, pathos is an emotional appeal. This establishes credibility by showing the audience that the speaker or writer has gone through a certain situation or experienced a hardship that shows through with their language and passion.
Practical Application
When establishing a myth, these tools are important in order to persuade the audience of the importance of the idea. One example discussed heavily in class was the disposability of women. This myth states that women are great, disposable workers because they can be worked into the ground for a period of 1-3 years before needing to be replaced. While this seems a little off, many companies have taken it to heart.
This idea stems from the “facts” that women are weaker than men, are ruled by their biological clocks and can be taken advantage of. While women aren’t always physically stronger than men, they possess a strong worth ethic and can work for longer than two years in a factory if not pushed to the most extreme limits. This is where the bosses establish the myth though. They push the female workers as far as possible, run them into the ground to the point where they have to be forced out or quit. Another popular thought is that women are ruled by their biological clock and want to have families and will get pregnant while working. This cannot happen in a factory setting because if a woman becomes pregnant, at some point she will have to slow down in production, and eventually have to leave the job. Finally, it’s believed that women are easily taken advantage of, and that fear can be used to maintain power.
With all of these ideas, the disposability of women has been established. With men in power and creating these ideas, female workers have been subjected to no job security and have been taken advantage of. They use ethos in their argument by using science to show women are physically weaker than men. Logic is employed by compiling facts and statistics to prove their overarching idea. Finally, women are nurturing people who want a family; in this way pathos is applied. They would not sacrifice a family for a job. Rhetoric establishes social myth. Various tropes can be employed in order to create these myths, including ethos, logos and pathos. By combining all of these elements a very strong basis for argument is established and often times accepted.
