{"id":518,"date":"2025-05-26T17:04:28","date_gmt":"2025-05-26T17:04:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/?post_type=chapter&#038;p=518"},"modified":"2025-09-07T01:41:42","modified_gmt":"2025-09-07T01:41:42","slug":"ideological-criticism-description-interpretation-and-evaluation","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/chapter\/ideological-criticism-description-interpretation-and-evaluation\/","title":{"raw":"Ideological Criticism: Description, Interpretation, and Evaluation","rendered":"Ideological Criticism: Description, Interpretation, and Evaluation"},"content":{"raw":"<div class=\"textbox textbox--learning-objectives\"><header class=\"textbox__header\">\r\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">Chapter Objectives<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\r\n<p class=\"import-pf\">Students will:<\/p>\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Describe an artifact\u2019s ideological message.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Interpret how an artifact uses ideology to exercise power and control.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Evaluate how a rhetorical artifact\u2019s ideology strengthens or weakens democratic principles.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 0pt;\">The previous chapter introduced you to ideological criticism. We explained that it is a method of rhetorical criticism that exposes the ideology communicated by a rhetorical artifact and interprets how the artifact uses the ideology to exercise power and control. We defined an ideology as a set of shared beliefs and values that forms an interpretation of the world and suggests appropriate ways to act in it. We also guided you through the first two steps of ideological criticism: identifying an appropriate rhetorical artifact and reconstructing its historical context.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">In this chapter, we will explain the next three steps: describing the artifact\u2019s ideological message, interpreting how the artifact uses the ideology to exercise power and control, and evaluating how the ideology strengthens or weakens democratic principles.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h1 class=\"import-ah\">Describing the Artifact\u2019s Ideological Message<\/h1>\r\n<p class=\"import-paft\">In ideological criticism, the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">description<\/em><\/span> step entails determining your artifact\u2019s ideological message. To do that, name and describe the ideology your artifact communicates (i.e., the artifact\u2019s content) as well as the rhetorical features it employs to communicate it (i.e., the forms it uses).<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h2 class=\"import-bh\">Name the Ideology<\/h2>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_429\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"384\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-429\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image368.png\" alt=\"Blank nametag\" width=\"384\" height=\"240\" \/> <a href=\"https:\/\/openclipart.org\/detail\/250091\/hello-my-name-is#google_vignette\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Hello My Name Is<\/a> by Gordon Dillon Johnson via Openclipart, <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/public-domain\/pdm\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Public Domain<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n<p class=\"import-paft\">Critical to ideological criticism is naming the ideology the artifact elevates or challenges. As mentioned previously, an ideology is a set of shared beliefs and values that forms an interpretation of the world and suggests appropriate ways to act in it. Notice that an ideology consists of a <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">set<\/em><\/span> or <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">collection<\/em><\/span> of beliefs and values that coheres into a perspective. Students often mistake a single value or belief for an ideology.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<table>\r\n<thead>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td class=\"TableGrid-C\" style=\"border: solid windowtext 0.5pt;\">\r\n<p class=\"import-tch\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Not an Ideology<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<td class=\"TableGrid-C\" style=\"border: solid windowtext 0.5pt;\">\r\n<p class=\"import-tch\"><span style=\"color: #339966;\"><strong>Is an Ideology<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/thead>\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr class=\"TableGrid-R\">\r\n<td class=\"TableGrid-C\" style=\"border: solid windowtext 0.5pt;\">\r\n<p class=\"import-td\">Devotion<\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<td class=\"TableGrid-C\" style=\"border: solid windowtext 0.5pt;\">\r\n<p class=\"import-td\">Patriotism<\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr class=\"TableGrid-R\">\r\n<td class=\"TableGrid-C\" style=\"border: solid windowtext 0.5pt;\">\r\n<p class=\"import-td\">Devotion is a single value.<\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<td class=\"TableGrid-C\" style=\"border: solid windowtext 0.5pt;\">\r\n<p class=\"import-td\">Patriotism consists of a <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">set<\/em><\/span> of beliefs and values:<\/p>\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>devotion<\/li>\r\n \t<li>sacrifice<\/li>\r\n \t<li>pride<\/li>\r\n \t<li>attachment to one\u2019s homeland<\/li>\r\n \t<li>belief that one should do what\u2019s best for their country and its inhabitants<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">You will know you are naming an ideology when you can identify the collection of interrelated values and beliefs that form the outlook. Box 35.1 offers a list of sample ideologies to help you get started.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div class=\"textbox\">\r\n\r\n<strong>Box 35.1 Examples of Ideologies<\/strong>\r\n<p style=\"padding-left: 120px;\">[columns count=2]<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-size: 20px;\">Agricultural sustainability\r\nAtheism\r\nBuddhism\r\nChristianity\r\nCollectivism\r\nConservativism\r\nConsumerism\r\nDemocracy\r\nEgalitarianism\r\nEnvironmentalism\r\nFair trade\r\nFeminism\r\nHegemonic masculinity\r\nHeteronormativity\r\nHinduism\r\nHumanism\r\nIdealism\r\nImperialism\r\nIndividualism\r\nIslam\r\nJudaism\r\nLiberalism\r\nLibertarianism\r\nLocotarianism (food movement)\r\nMarxism\r\nNationalism\r\nNeoliberalism\r\nNihilism\r\nPacifism\r\nPatriotism\r\nRacism\r\nRealism\r\nSexism\r\nSocial Darwinism\r\nSocialism\r\nTechnological utopianism<strong>[\/columns]<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<h3 class=\"import-ch\">Hegemonic Ideologies<\/h3>\r\n<p class=\"import-paft\"><img class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image369.png\" alt=\"image\" width=\"108.4px\" height=\"108.4px\" \/>In addition to naming the ideology, identify if it is hegemonic or resistant. A <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">hegemonic ideology<\/strong><\/span> is an ideology that has become a predominant way of seeing the world and serves the interests of those who hold institutional or social power. You will know an ideology is a predominant viewpoint because it is promoted, practiced, or reinforced through institutional (social, economic, educational, political, and religious) practices and policies, and it is likely reflected in majority opinions.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\"><img class=\"alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image370.png\" alt=\"image\" width=\"115.533333333333px\" height=\"115.533333333333px\" \/>Hegemonic ideologies typically privilege people who hold positions of power and\/or who have dominantly situated positionalities. In chapter 7, we drew on standpoint theory to explain that our social identities influence our knowledge of the world and our perceptions of what is \u201ctrue\u201d or \u201cnormal.\u201d Dominantly situated identities\u2014such as those perceived as white, able-bodied, or native English speaking\u2014occupy positions of social privilege. They are granted more social power and prestige than their marginally situated counterparts, such as those perceived as nonwhite, physically disabled, or nonnative English speaking. Hegemonic ideologies typically promote values and beliefs that reinforce the power of dominantly situated identities, though we often are unaware of this function.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Indeed, hegemonic ideologies are so predominant that most people perceive their values and beliefs as given. That is, these ideologies seem natural, commonsensical, or even ordained by god. In the United States, for example, we might identify such hegemonic ideologies as the following:<\/p>\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Christianity<\/li>\r\n \t<li>individualism<\/li>\r\n \t<li>heteronormativity<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p class=\"import-pcon\">You might support and adhere to one or more of these ideologies. We all support some hegemonic ideologies because we find their beliefs valid and their values laudable. Frankly, it\u2019s very difficult to reject all hegemonic ideologies and belong to a society.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Remember, though, that hegemonic ideologies typically serve the needs and interests of dominantly situated positionalities while ignoring, downplaying, or rejecting the needs and interests of marginally situated positionalities (locally or globally). We\u2019ll return to this notion when we discuss the step of interpreting your artifact\u2019s ideological work. The point here is that it is helpful to identify if the ideology communicated by your artifact is hegemonic and, if so, if your artifact reinforces this ideology or calls it into question.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div class=\"textbox\">\r\n\r\n<strong>Box 35.2 Naming Hegemonic Ideologies in #IfTheyGunnedMeDown<\/strong>\r\n\r\nIn the previous chapter, we introduced you to a Twitter (now X) campaign named <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId771\" href=\"https:\/\/knowyourmeme.com\/memes\/if-they-gunned-me-down\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"import-url\">#<\/span><span class=\"import-url\">IfTheyGunned<\/span> <span class=\"import-url\">MeDown<\/span><\/a><\/span>. It began on August 10, 2014, one day after Missouri police officer Darren Wilson shot and killed a young, Black man named Michael Brown. The campaign sought to highlight the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId772\" href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/K57G-4BXA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"import-url\">news media\u2019s repeated habit of publicizing pictures of Black people that make them appear potentially menacing<\/span><\/a><\/span>.\r\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">In tweets, African American participants paired two photos, with one photo presenting themselves in a potentially negative light and the other photo depicting themselves in a more positive light (as graduates, parents, public servants, etc.). In most cases, the person posting included the hashtag #IfTheyGunnedMeDown to provoke viewers to wonder which photo the news media would publicize if a police officer killed the person posting.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\r\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Yes let's do that: Which photo does the media use if the police shot me down? <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/IfTheyGunnedMeDown?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">#IfTheyGunnedMeDown<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/t.co\/Ng0pUlxWhr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/Ng0pUlxWhr<\/a><\/p>\r\n\u2014 C.J. Lawrence (@CJLawrenceEsq) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CJLawrenceEsq\/status\/498537843170353152?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">August 10, 2014<\/a><\/blockquote>\r\n<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\r\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">We return to this example in this chapter to illustrate the description, interpretation, and evaluation steps of ideological criticism. Here we begin with description by naming the ideologies the tweets elevated or challenged.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">In the case of #IfTheyGunnedMeDown tweets, we can identify <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">racism<\/strong><\/span> as the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">hegemonic ideology<\/strong><\/span> communicated <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">and<\/em><\/span> challenged.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">In each tweet, the rhetor provided a photograph that portrayed a person of color in ways that <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">could <\/strong><strong class=\"import-bi\"><em>trigger racist associations<\/em><\/strong><\/span> of Black people with criminality. In the US, racism is hegemonic, sadly; its ongoing influence can be found in social, legal, educational, political, and religious institutions, and it serves the dominantly situated positionality of whiteness by associating it, in contrast, with purity and innocence. [footnote]Lisa Flores, \u201cBetween Abundance and Marginalization: The Imperative of Racial Rhetorical Criticism,\u201d <em>Review of Communication<\/em> 16, no. 1 (2016): 4\u201324.[\/footnote]<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">The tweets <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-bi\"><em>challenged<\/em><\/strong><strong class=\"import-b\"> racism<\/strong><\/span> by pairing each photograph with a second that portrayed the same person in roles and activities we typically celebrate (as a soldier, graduate, parent, etc.). The pairing made clear that the racist associations with one set of images were unfair and racially biased.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<h3 class=\"import-ch\">Resistant Ideologies<\/h3>\r\n<h3 class=\"import-ch\"><img class=\"alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image372.png\" alt=\"image\" width=\"107.533333333333px\" height=\"107.533333333333px\" \/><\/h3>\r\n<p class=\"import-paft\">Just as there are hegemonic ideologies, there are also resistant ideologies. A <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">resistant ideology<\/strong><\/span> is one that directly challenges a hegemonic ideology. To revisit our earlier examples,<\/p>\r\n\r\n<table>\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr class=\"TableGrid-R\">\r\n<td class=\"TableGrid-C\" style=\"border: solid windowtext 0.5pt;\">\r\n<p class=\"import-td\">Egalitarianism<\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<td class=\"TableGrid-C\" style=\"border: solid windowtext 0.5pt;\" rowspan=\"3\">\r\n<p class=\"import-td\">resist(s)<\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<td class=\"TableGrid-C\" style=\"border: solid windowtext 0.5pt;\">\r\n<p class=\"import-td\">heteronormativity.<\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr class=\"TableGrid-R\">\r\n<td class=\"TableGrid-C\" style=\"border: solid windowtext 0.5pt;\">\r\n<p class=\"import-td\">Collectivism<\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<td class=\"TableGrid-C\" style=\"border: solid windowtext 0.5pt;\">\r\n<p class=\"import-td\">individualism.<\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr class=\"TableGrid-R\">\r\n<td class=\"TableGrid-C\" style=\"border: solid windowtext 0.5pt;\">\r\n<p class=\"import-td\">Alternative religious systems (Hinduism, Islam, etc.) or nonreligious ideologies (atheism)<\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<td class=\"TableGrid-C\" style=\"border: solid windowtext 0.5pt;\">\r\n<p class=\"import-td\">Christianity.<\/p>\r\n<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Artifacts that challenge hegemonic ideologies often (but not always) also promote a resistant ideology.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div class=\"textbox\">\r\n\r\n<strong>Box 35.3 Naming Resistant Ideologies in #IfTheyGunnedMeDown<\/strong>\r\n\r\nWe might argue that the #IfTheyGunnedMeDown tweets promoted the resistant ideology of <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">humanism<\/strong><\/span> as they sought to challenge the racial bias in typical photographs circulated by the media of Black individuals. By pairing two very different photographs of themselves, the rhetors reminded viewers of how <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">we all pose and appear differently<\/strong><\/span> in varied contexts. They prompted viewers to realize we all have at least two images of ourselves that might prompt very different conclusions about us. In doing so, the tweets <strong>promoted the belief <\/strong>in our common human experience as well as the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">value<\/strong><\/span> of emphasizing our shared connections.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<h2 class=\"import-bh\">Describe the Artifact\u2019s Rhetorical Symbols That Communicate the Ideology<\/h2>\r\n<p class=\"import-paft\"><img class=\"alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image373.png\" alt=\"image\" width=\"117.333333333333px\" height=\"117.333333333333px\" \/>In addition to naming the ideology communicated by the artifact and identifying it as hegemonic or resistant, you must specify <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">how<\/em><\/span> the artifact communicates the ideology.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Focus on the artifact\u2019s <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">verbal,<\/em><em class=\"import-i\"> nonverbal, visual<\/em><em class=\"import-i\">,<\/em><em class=\"import-i\"> and audio <\/em><em class=\"import-i\">symbols<\/em><\/span> that convey its ideological message. For instance, if your artifact is a photograph,<\/p>\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>How is it visually framed or cropped?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Is it in black and white or color?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>What is the eye drawn to first?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Is there text within the photograph itself or superimposed on the photograph?<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">If your artifact is a music video,<\/p>\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>What lyrics accompany what scenes?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>How are scenes visually shot?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>How is the singer or character in the video dressed?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>What does the lighting emphasize or what is placed in the shadows?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>How does the music change in volume and tempo as the video progresses?<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Also consider who or what is <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">missing<\/em><\/span> from your artifact. Use your reconstruction of the historical context to notice conspicuous absences. Overall, look closely at the artifact and help your audience understand how its rhetorical features and absences communicate the ideology.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div class=\"textbox\">\r\n\r\n<strong>Box 35.4 Rhetorical Symbols to Describe and Interpret in Ideological Criticism<\/strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">verbal symbols<\/strong><\/span>: word choice, juxtaposition of words with visual or audio features<\/li>\r\n \t<li><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">nonverbal symbols:<\/strong><\/span> appearance, facial expressions, gestures, posture, eye contact, physical movement<\/li>\r\n \t<li><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">visual <\/strong><strong class=\"import-b\">symbols<\/strong><strong class=\"import-b\">:<\/strong><\/span> color, lighting, framing, font of text in the image, camera angle, distance, editing or juxtaposition of images, symbols, materials used, size<\/li>\r\n \t<li><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">audio <\/strong><strong class=\"import-b\">symbols<\/strong><strong class=\"import-b\">:<\/strong><\/span> sound quality, tempo, pitch, volume, juxtaposition of sound with visual or verbal features<\/li>\r\n \t<li><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">absence:<\/strong><\/span> based on your reconstruction of the context, who or what is conspicuously missing or downplayed by the artifact<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<h2 class=\"import-bh\">Which Comes First? Naming the Ideology or Describing the Artifact\u2019s Rhetorical Symbols?<\/h2>\r\n<p class=\"import-paft\">Describing an artifact\u2019s rhetorical symbols goes hand in hand with identifying the artifact\u2019s ideology. You can tackle them together.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">However, you may find it helpful to <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">begin with<\/em><\/span> the artifact\u2019s rhetorical <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">symbols<\/em><\/span> and use them to help you name the ideology the artifact communicates. You can, in other words, <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">work backward<\/em><\/span> from the rhetorical symbols to naming the ideology:<\/p>\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Spend time with your artifact and list its most striking rhetorical <em>symbols<\/em>, whether they are verbal, nonverbal, visual, or audio, as well as any glaring absences.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Identify the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">belief or value<\/em><\/span> each symbol communicates or challenges. This may take some time.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Then look over your list and decide what <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">ideology<\/em><\/span> pulls the beliefs and values together into a coherent perspective. You may find it helpful to look back through the sample ideologies in box 35.1 or talk with your instructor for help.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<div class=\"textbox\">\r\n\r\n<strong>Box 35.5 Moving from Describing the Rhetorical Symbols of, to Naming the Ideologies Communicated by, #IfTheyGunnedMeDown Posts<\/strong>\r\n\r\nIf we were unsure of what ideologies the Twitter (now X) posts communicate, we might focus initially on their rhetorical symbols. We would probably begin by listing patterns in the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">visual <\/strong><strong class=\"import-b\">and nonverbal <\/strong><strong class=\"import-b\">contrasts<\/strong><\/span> between the photographs coupled together, including their differing\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>physical settings,<\/li>\r\n \t<li>lighting,<\/li>\r\n \t<li>facial expressions,<\/li>\r\n \t<li>camera angles, and<\/li>\r\n \t<li>ways the subject is depicted in their attire, expression, gestures, or activity.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">We could then move to the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">beliefs and values<\/strong><\/span> these features communicate.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>We might notice, for example, that the visual imagery in one group of photographs can be read through a racist lens as suggesting a threat (or guilt).<\/li>\r\n \t<li>The other group of photos communicates innocence by depicting success, pride, joy, and devotion.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">We might next consider the consistent <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">verbal feature<\/strong><\/span> in the posts. The hashtag \u201c#IfTheyGunnedMeDown\u201d returns to <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">beliefs<\/strong><\/span> of guilt and innocence but flips the racist script. It suggests that \u201cThey\u201d (the police) are guilty of killing or harming \u201cMe,\u201d the innocent Black person depicted in both photos. Through visual, verbal, and nonverbal features together, then, the tweets promoted the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">belief (and values)<\/strong><\/span> that if the police unfairly acted violently against the rhetor, one photo would showcase the rhetor\u2019s innocence while one might imply the victim was the perpetrator.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">The tweets\u2019 communication of these beliefs and values, <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">along with their historical context of appearing the day after<\/em><\/span> <a class=\"rId776\" href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/K57G-4BXA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em class=\"import-url-i\">NBC News publicized a particular image of Michael Brown<\/em><\/a>, can help us piece together the ideologies they communicate. They illuminated and challenged the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">hegemonic<\/strong><\/span> <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">ideology of racism<\/strong><\/span> at work in photos more often selected by the media by pairing them with photos the media <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">could have selected<\/em><\/span> that communicate the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">resistant ideology of humanism<\/strong><\/span>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Taking time to carefully list all the significant rhetorical symbols of your artifact\u2014and identify what value or belief each communicates\u2014will serve you well. Most directly, it will help you <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">name the ideology<\/em><\/span> communicated by the artifact.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">In addition, such work will aid you in identifying and explaining to your audience the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">specific beliefs and values<\/em><\/span> that compose that ideology. It\u2019s not enough to name the ideology; you need to briefly define and describe its contents as well.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Further, such preparation will also help you name and point out <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">specific rhetorical <\/em><em class=\"import-i\">symbols<\/em><\/span> that communicate the ideology. You may want to pair your descriptions with well-designed visual aids or include an audio or video clip that focuses attention on specific <img class=\"alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image374.png\" alt=\"image\" width=\"109.333333333333px\" height=\"109.333333333333px\" \/>rhetorical symbols. They can help supply evidence needed for your claims about the artifact\u2019s ideological messaging. If you jump to your interpretations without pointing out the presence of ideological features in your artifact, your interpretation will lack validity.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Finally, listing your artifact\u2019s rhetorical symbols will set you up well to make <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">interpretations<\/em><\/span>, which is what we turn to next.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h1 class=\"import-ah\">Interpreting How the Artifact Exercises Power and Control<\/h1>\r\n<p class=\"import-paft\">If you only identify an artifact\u2019s ideology and rhetorical symbols but don\u2019t interpret how they function persuasively, you will mostly have summarized or narrated the artifact. You will miss its symbolic action.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">To <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">interpret<\/em><\/span> an artifact using ideological criticism, infer how it uses an ideology to exercise power and control. We will unpack what that means\u2014and explain how to do it\u2014by providing the concept of agency as well as additional factors to consider when your artifact supports a hegemonic ideology, when it resists a hegemonic ideology, and when it does not neatly do either.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h2 class=\"import-bh\">Agency<\/h2>\r\n<p class=\"import-paft\"><img class=\"alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image375.png\" alt=\"image\" width=\"137.28px\" height=\"137.28px\" \/><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">Agency<\/strong><\/span> is an individual\u2019s ability to act freely or to independently intervene in a situation, their own life, and the world. When you analyze an artifact for agency, you interpret how the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">artifact depicts<\/em><\/span> an individual or group\u2019s freedom to act. Agency is particularly important in ideological criticism because it helps you discover how artifacts employ ideologies in ways that attempt to expand or contract the liberty of others. You can also reveal the ways democratic participants can resist such messages.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div class=\"textbox\">\r\n\r\n<strong>Box 35.6 Agency in #IfTheyGunnedMeDown<\/strong>\r\n\r\nIf we return to the tweets, we see how the paired photographs drew attention to the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">agency exercised by major news corporations<\/strong><\/span> like NBC News over the images they select to report stories involving people of color. The posts suggested that of the photographs publicly available, <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">the news media <\/strong><strong class=\"import-bi\"><em>chose<\/em><\/strong><\/span> an image that could be damning when reporting about crime or violence. Relatedly, the posts highlighted the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-bi\"><em>lack <\/em><\/strong><strong class=\"import-b\">of agency that people of color<\/strong><\/span>, such as Brown, have over how they are depicted by the news media.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_437\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"375\"]<img class=\"wp-image-437\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image376.png\" alt=\"Two hands reach toward each other. One has words on it like &quot;unite&quot; and &quot;relate to&quot; while the other has words like &quot;welcome,&quot; &quot;regard,&quot; and &quot;us.&quot;\" width=\"375\" height=\"289\" \/> <a href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/illustrations\/unity-community-union-hands-1767694\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Image<\/a> by John Hain via Pixabay, <a href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/service\/license-summary\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pixabay Content License<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">By posting the paired images, however, <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">Twitter <\/strong><strong class=\"import-b\">(now X) <\/strong><strong class=\"import-b\">users asserted their own agency<\/strong><\/span> and invited audiences to join them in seeking social change. C. J. Lawrence sparked the broad participation through his <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId780\" href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/2GHV-NNGE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"import-url\">original tweet<\/span><\/a><\/span> when he said, \u201cYes let\u2019s do that: Which photo does the media use if the police shot me down? #IfTheyGunnedMeDown.\u201d He later shared <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId781\" href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/Z7RC-AMVF\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"import-url\">in an interview<\/span><\/a><\/span> that \u201cWhen I say, \u2018Yes, let\u2019s do that,\u2019 my intention was that people would participate.\u201d[footnote]Ethan Zuckerman, \u201c#iftheygunnedmedown Six Years Later, and Just as Vital\u2014an Interview with Activist C. J. Lawrence,\u201d <em>Ethan Zuckerman <\/em>(blog), June 5, 2020, <a href=\"https:\/\/ethanzuckerman.com\/2020\/06\/05\/iftheygunnedmedown-six-years-later-and-just-as-vital-an-interview-with-activist-c-j-lawrence\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/ethanzuckerman.com\/2020\/06\/05\/iftheygunnedmedown-six-years-later-and-just-as-vital-an-interview-with-activist-c-j-lawrence\/<\/a>.[\/footnote] His use of \u201clet\u2019s\u201d <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">called out to readers who shared his frustrations to join the campaign<\/strong><\/span>. As they did, they promoted positive images of Black individuals, <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">reclaiming some of their agency<\/strong><\/span> and <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">circumventing the major news media\u2019s gatekeeping<\/strong><\/span>. These photos helped promote the ideology of humanism by depicting themselves in ways all viewers could relate to and identify with.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">When you interpret your artifact\u2019s persuasive functions, ask how it renders an individual\u2019s or group\u2019s agency, using the prompts in box 35.7. Your interpretations of agency can and should contribute to your analysis of how your artifact supported hegemonic ideologies, resisted hegemonic ideologies, or both.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div class=\"textbox\">\r\n\r\n<strong>Box 35.7 Questions to Ask About Agency<\/strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>How much and what type of freedom does the artifact depict people as having or exercising? Which people?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>How does the artifact depict an individual or group as lacking freedom or being controlled by or under the power of others?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Does the artifact conspicuously exclude anyone? If so, how might their exclusion attempt to restrict or expand their or others\u2019 agency?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>How does the artifact\u2019s depiction of agency help justify or challenge a particular ideology, especially given the historical context?<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<h2 class=\"import-bh\">When Your Artifact Supports a Hegemonic Ideology<\/h2>\r\n<p class=\"import-paft\"><img class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image370-1.png\" alt=\"image\" width=\"115.533333333333px\" height=\"115.533333333333px\" \/>Remember that a hegemonic ideology is a set of values, beliefs, interpretations, and assumptions that becomes a predominant viewpoint and serves the political and economic interests of dominantly situated positionalities. Consequently, they are typically used to portray and legitimize those standpoints as superior to marginally situated positionalities.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">If your artifact reinforces a hegemonic ideology, then interpret how the artifact uses that ideology to exercise power and control. Use the questions in box 35.8 to guide your interpretations.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div class=\"textbox\">\r\n\r\n<strong>Box 35.8 Questions to Ask When an Artifact Supports a Hegemonic Ideology<\/strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Who or what does the artifact depict as desirable, moral, innocent, trustworthy, normal, and\/or good-natured? Are they dominantly situated positionalities? How does the artifact encourage audiences to side with them?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Who or what does the artifact define as undesirable, immoral, guilty, sneaky, abnormal, and\/or threatening? Are they marginally situated positionalities? How does the artifact encourage audiences to reject or disapprove of them?<img class=\"alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image377.png\" alt=\"image\" width=\"143.066666666667px\" height=\"143.066666666667px\" \/><\/li>\r\n \t<li>What way of acting or behaving in the world is highlighted\u2014or even praised\u2014in the artifact? What ideas, beliefs, or values does the artifact obscure or hide\u2014or perhaps overtly discredit?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>What <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">hierarchies<\/strong><\/span>\u2014unequal ranking(s) of people or groups\u2014does the artifact produce through its ideological messaging? Hierarchies can consist of multiple, ranked groups.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>How does the artifact use hierarchies to try to justify or legitimate particular actions or policies? To serve the needs of those in power? To ignore, downplay, or reject the needs of marginally situated positionalities?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>How does the artifact present the ideological beliefs, values, and depictions as natural or normal? How does it discourage audiences from questioning it?<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox\">\r\n\r\n<strong>Box 35.9 Interpreting How News Media Imagery Exercises Power and Control<\/strong>\r\n\r\nWhen the news media include a picture of the subject they are reporting about in their story, they don\u2019t typically encourage consumers to reflect on this choice. Little or no information is given about where journalists found the picture or its original context (e.g., at a Halloween party, goofing around). Consequently, their selection implies that\u2019s who the person depicted \u201cis.\u201d\r\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">Depictions:<\/strong><\/span> As we\u2019ve established, <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId783\" href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/K57G-4BXA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"import-url\">NBC News publicized a photograph of Brown<\/span><\/a><\/span> wearing a Nike Air tank top, staring down at the camera with no smile, and showing a hand signal. This picture is innocuous on its own. But paired with the tweet\u2019s caption, \u201cUnarmed Missouri teen killed by officer after \u2018physical confrontation,\u2019\u201d the photo could be read as implying that Brown, though unarmed, prompted or even participated in the confrontation. This reading is encouraged by and reinforces the hegemonic, racist depiction of African American men as threats. By implication, this reading also implies that the (white) police officer who killed Brown acted reasonably.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">Hierarchy:<\/strong><\/span> Together, the image and caption suggest a legal and racial hierarchy where the white police officer is depicted as morally and legally superior to the African American teenager.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">Support for powerful people and institutions:<\/strong><\/span> Such depictions implicitly (and unfairly) attempt to justify or explain police officers\u2019 use of violent force against African American men. Thus, images and captions like the one NBC News used for Brown serve the interests of those in positions of power (such as police officers) within the legal system.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">Normalization:<\/strong><\/span> By selecting yet another potentially damning image of a Black man, the NBC News post helped renaturalize the association of Blackness with crime. It perpetuated racism.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<h2 class=\"import-bh\">When Your Artifact Challenges a Hegemonic Ideology<\/h2>\r\n<p class=\"import-paft\">Artifacts can, alternatively, <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">challenge<\/em><\/span> a hegemonic ideology, often by exposing the hegemonic ideology as a social construct. A <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">social construct<\/strong><\/span> is a category, idea, or description that humans have created to explain reality. The important idea here is that a social construct is a product of human language and interactions rather than something biological, natural, or ordained by God.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_440\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"399\"]<img class=\"size-full wp-image-440\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image378.png\" alt=\"A protest sign that reads, &quot;Gender: Social Construct&quot;\" width=\"399\" height=\"267\" \/> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/ari\/3667802148\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Gender: Social Construct<\/a> by Steve Rhodes via Flickr, <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-sa\/2.0\/deed.en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CC BY-NC-SA<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">The goal of artifacts that challenge hegemonic ideologies is to expose them as social constructs that are human rather than natural conceptions\u2014and therefore alterable. Do women make inferior soldiers, or is that a social construct? Are fathers inherently less nurturing than mothers, or does that explanation enable fathers to spend more time in the workplace and mothers more time at home with children?<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">For artifacts that challenge hegemonic ideologies, explain to your audience how your artifact exposed a hegemonic ideology as a human (and flawed) production that can and should be changed.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\"><img class=\"alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image379.png\" alt=\"image\" width=\"152px\" height=\"152px\" \/>Artifacts that challenge a hegemonic ideology often do so by advocating a resistant ideology. Recall that a resistant ideology is one that directly challenges and counters a hegemonic ideology. In such cases, the critic may also ask how the resistant ideology offers an alternative depiction (or counterpresentation) of dominantly and marginally situated identities. Does the resistant ideology replace a hierarchy with a new hierarchy (perhaps with the groups\u2019 positions switched) or a more equitable or egalitarian depiction?<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div class=\"textbox\">\r\n\r\n<strong>Box 35.10 Questions to Ask When an Artifact Resists Hegemonic Ideology<\/strong>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>How do the artifact\u2019s verbal, nonverbal, visual, or audio symbols challenge a hegemonic ideology? What does the artifact suggest is wrong with our collective way of seeing?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>What social constructs does the artifact challenge or expose?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>What hierarchy does the artifact resist?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>How does the artifact promote a resistant ideology that runs counter to a hegemonic ideology?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>What does the artifact replace the hierarchy with: a new hierarchy (that depicts a dominant group in an unflattering way and\/or presents those with less societal power favorably) or a more equitable or egalitarian depiction of individuals and groups?<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox\">\r\n\r\n<strong>Box 35.11 Interpreting How #IfTheyGunnedMeDown Exercised Power and Control<\/strong>\r\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">Challenge hegemonic ideology:<\/strong> The tweets posted under <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId786\" href=\"https:\/\/knowyourmeme.com\/memes\/if-they-gunned-me-down\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"import-url\">#<\/span><span class=\"import-url\">IfTheyGunnedMeDown<\/span><\/a><\/span> directly countered the racism perpetuated by the news media\u2019s choice of potentially damning images of Black people by promoting the resistant ideology of humanism. This ideology was communicated through the pairing of photographs.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">Replace hierarchy with an egalitarian depiction:<\/strong><\/span> As we established earlier, by pairing contrasting photos, the rhetors reminded viewers of how we all pose and appear differently in varied contexts. All of us have selfies that may not reflect positively on us when viewed out of context. This belief directly resisted the racist hierarchy that oppressed African Americans as threats.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">The other set of photos invited viewers to identify with Black subjects through their depiction in roles (as parents, graduates, soldiers, etc.) and doing actions (nurturing, graduating, serving, etc.) that we collectively celebrate. Such identification produced egalitarianism in our shared humanity.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">Reveal a social construct:<\/strong><\/span> By countering racism with humanism, the paired photos revealed depictions of Black people as threats <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">as<\/em><\/span> a social construct\u2014one that could easily be replaced with depictions of the same people as productive members of society.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<h2 class=\"import-bh\">But What If My Artifact.\u2026?<\/h2>\r\n<p class=\"import-paft\">Perhaps your artifact does not neatly fit into the two previous categories. Not all artifacts wholly reinforce or resist hegemonic ideologies.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_442\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"375\"]<img class=\"wp-image-442\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image380.png\" alt=\"A teacher stands near the blackboard and calls on a student who has their hand raised\" width=\"375\" height=\"250\" \/> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pexels.com\/photo\/teacher-asking-a-question-to-the-class-5212345\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Teacher Asking a Question<\/a> by Max Fischer via Pexels, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pexels.com\/license\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pexels License<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">You may choose an artifact, for instance, that offers resistance but not in the ways we\u2019ve established. Some rhetors seek to redefine the meaning or application of a hegemonic ideology. Imagine a YouTube video that refers to public school teachers as exemplars of patriotism and recognizes their sacrifice and dedication to their country. Such a video might leave intact the values and beliefs associated with the hegemonic ideology of patriotism but resist its typical narrowed application to military veterans or government workers. As a critic, you might use the guidance in the previous sections to consider how the artifact <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">both<\/em><\/span> <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">upholds and resists<\/em><\/span> a hegemonic ideology.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Other artifacts challenge resistant ideologies and seek to reinstate hegemonic beliefs and values. You might hear a sermon, for example, that critiques egalitarianism when it comes to gender nonbinary people and upholds a gender binary by supporting religious fundamentalism. In such cases, use the guidance provided in the previous section for <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">when artifacts reinforce hegemonic ideologies<\/em><\/span>. You might add to that your consideration of how the artifact strives to counter a resistant ideology by depicting <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">it<\/em><\/span> as a social construct.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">A final word of caution about interpretation in ideological criticism: Not everything that is interesting about your artifact and its context may make it into your critique. You are looking, in particular, for one of two things:<\/p>\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>First, you might explain how symbols in your artifact reinforce a particular set of beliefs and behaviors as \u201cnatural\u201d when, in fact, these beliefs or behaviors are socially constructed, and how that ideology produces a hierarchy among individuals or groups, perhaps to try to justify a policy or action.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Second, you may illuminate how symbols in your artifact explicitly challenge a hegemonic ideology and suggest that we can and should think and act differently\u2014especially for the benefit of those groups that are traditionally silenced, overlooked, or politically and economically oppressed.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<div class=\"textbox\">\r\n\r\n<strong>Box 35.12 Gender Critique as a Form of Ideological Criticism<\/strong>\r\n\r\nQuestions and assumptions about gender are often rooted in ideology. Philosophers and rhetorical critics see many commonly held ideas about gender as social constructs.\r\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">If this is a topic that interests you, you might wish to focus your critique on how gender is portrayed and prescribed in your artifact. Does your artifact reinforce the hegemonic belief about gender as a binary (i.e., men and women as separate and different), or does it challenge that assumption, such as by depicting gender as fluid or as existing along a spectrum? Do you see your artifact\u2019s portrayals of people as limiting or policing what\u2019s considered appropriately masculine or feminine? Do you want to argue that your artifact is working to expand what the culture defines as acceptable behavior and gender expression? If your answer to these (and similar) questions is yes, then your ideological criticism is performing a gender critique.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<h1 class=\"import-ah\">Evaluating the Rhetorical Artifact<\/h1>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_383\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"333\"]<img class=\"wp-image-383\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image330.png\" alt=\"U.S. Capitol Building exterior\" width=\"333\" height=\"500\" \/> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pexels.com\/photo\/facade-of-the-capitol-building-7016963\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facade of the Capitol Building<\/a> by Ramaz Bluashvili via Pexels, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pexels.com\/license\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pexels License.<\/a>[\/caption]\r\n<p class=\"import-paft\">We wrote this chapter because we are interested in educating civically engaged critics. We believe you are more able to participate in and shape democratic organizations when you can recognize how rhetoric and ideology influence ideas and exert social control.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">With this in mind, the final step to any rhetorical critique is to help your audiences understand how your artifact relates to democratic principles and practices. In chapter 31, we defined democratic principles as the behavioral standards necessary for democratic governance to exist and thrive, and we gave examples such as the rule of law, the unity or shared identity of community members, and the open and thoughtful engagement of public issues, arguments, and positions.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">In your ideological criticism, make certain to argue how the artifact strengthens or weakens democratic principles so your audience members are equipped to be fuller participants in a democratic society.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h2 class=\"import-bh\">Did the Artifact Strengthen Democratic Principles? How?<\/h2>\r\n<p class=\"import-paft\"><img class=\"alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image382.png\" alt=\"image\" width=\"115.533333333333px\" height=\"115.533333333333px\" \/>In chapter 33, we explained that an artifact can strengthen democracy <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">directly<\/em><\/span> by explicitly advocating democratic principles or <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">indirectly<\/em><\/span> by modeling or practicing the principles. We further explained that any artifact that practices <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">responsible <\/em><em class=\"import-i\">productive discourse<\/em><\/span> indirectly reinforces democratic principles because it, as defined in chapter 4, draws on the qualities of productive discourse to produce a more inclusive and equitable public sphere. You might, then, illustrate how your artifact strengthens democratic principles by showing the following:<\/p>\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>how it explicitly advocates for specific democratic principles<\/li>\r\n \t<li>how it illustrates qualities of productive discourse<\/li>\r\n \t<li>how it sparks discussion about an overlooked and ongoing societal problem<\/li>\r\n \t<li>how it expands the public sphere by including historically marginalized members of the public and empowering them to act as democratic participants<\/li>\r\n \t<li>how it questions the power of historically dominant members of the public rather than unreflectively granting their perspectives authority<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<h2 class=\"import-bh\">Did the Artifact Weaken Democratic Principles? How?<\/h2>\r\n<p class=\"import-paft\">Artifacts that weaken democratic principles tend <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">not<\/em><\/span> to do the things we just listed. You likely have an artifact that discourages democratic principles if you see that your artifact<\/p>\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>explicitly calls for the dismissal of democratic principles, subjugates them to other values, or refuses their application to particular groups of people;<\/li>\r\n \t<li>exemplifies qualities of unproductive discourse;<\/li>\r\n \t<li>quells discussion about an overlooked and ongoing societal problem;<\/li>\r\n \t<li>restricts the public sphere by actively excluding or denigrating historically marginalized voices; or<\/li>\r\n \t<li>preserves the power of historically dominant groups by uncritically accepting their perspectives.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<div class=\"textbox\">\r\n\r\n<strong>Box 35.13 Evaluating #IfTheyGunnedMeDown<\/strong>\r\n\r\nThe Twitter (now X) phenomenon that paired photos of young people of color <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">supported<\/strong><\/span> the democratic principles of <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">free speech and the participation of people in civic affairs<\/strong><\/span> by <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">empowering<\/strong><\/span> the young people\u2014whose voices had historically been largely excluded from news coverage\u2014to tell their own stories. Participants\u2019 posts <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">sparked a discussion<\/strong><\/span> about the ongoing but often overlooked issue of racism in the news media and <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">questioned<\/strong><\/span> the media\u2019s historic power to shape audiences\u2019 perceptions of the people they cover. The tweets also imagined <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">equality<\/strong><\/span> by offering images that better matched the news media\u2019s typical, and more humanizing, photographs of white individuals.\r\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">By revealing how such posts upheld democratic principles, an ideological analysis of the paired images can help viewers better understand the photographs as rhetorical artifacts functioning persuasively in our world.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_445\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"375\"]<img class=\"wp-image-445\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image383.png\" alt=\"A large group of people holding signs and banners\" width=\"375\" height=\"250\" \/> <a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/photos\/people-protesting-during-daytime-cpAKc-G6lPg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">People protesting<\/a> by Vlad Tchompalov via Unsplash, <a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/license\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Unsplash License<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">The important point is that ideological criticism is ultimately interested in <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">social change<\/em><\/span>. Will a critique of Twitter (now X) posts change the way US news outlets select pictures for their publications? Maybe not. Perhaps all an analysis of the Twitter\/X feed will do is plant a seed of awareness that will move some audiences to think differently about the way they receive news and the way members of their community are portrayed in the media. Such seeds of awareness, however, have the power to grow and reshape culture when enough people take notice. The power of consciousness raising should not be ignored, as it encourages the sharing of diverse opinions, talents, and knowledge for the good of the whole.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Ultimately, however, ideological critique is most powerful\u2014and most true to its roots\u2014when it opens avenues for more people to participate in their society, culture, and government. An ideological critique should move people to respond and to respond with action. The original proponents of ideological criticism wanted their analyses to help change social structures and material conditions.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">As you craft your ideological critique, invite your audience to participate in an action or protest to counter the form of ideological control you analyze or to support the challenge you investigated. You might model such action by producing and publicizing your own artifact that ideologically counters the one you analyzed. Similar to Lawrence\u2019s original tweet, invite your audience to join your efforts. Whatever you do, make your insights available to the public, and invite them to <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">move<\/em><\/span> on this evidence.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div class=\"textbox\">\r\n\r\nProfessor of communication James Arnt Aune makes the point this way:\r\n<blockquote>There remains the risk\u2026of the scholastic illusion that \u201craising consciousness\u201d will create liberation, failing to recognize the inertia which results from the inscription of social structures in bodies.\r\n\r\nRadical social change\u2014dare I say \u201crevolution\u201d?\u2014appears to come when bodies learn to move in different ways, when Rosa Parks refuses to move, when drag queens riot at Stonewall, when Egyptians take to the streets against Mubarak, or when workers of all kinds shut down the Wisconsin State Capitol Building.[footnote]James Arnt Aune, \u201cThe Scholastic Fallacy, Habitus, and Symbolic Violence: Pierre Bourdieu and the Prospects of Ideology Criticism,\u201d <em>Western Journal of Communication<\/em> 75, no. 4 (2011): 432.[\/footnote]<\/blockquote>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--exercises\"><header class=\"textbox__header\">\r\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">Summary<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\r\n<p class=\"import-paft\">As a method of criticism, ideological analysis exposes the ideology communicated by a rhetorical artifact and interprets how the artifact exercises power and control. But this method is also deeply invested in the health of our democracy and social change. Ideological criticism\u2019s goal is to help audiences resist ideological messages that constrict democratic participation and support those that expand such engagement.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>To analyze an artifact, the critic names the ideology communicated by the artifact, identifies it as hegemonic or resistant, and describes the verbal, nonverbal, visual, and audio features that convey the ideology\u2019s beliefs and values.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>When an ideology gains enough adherents that it becomes a predominant viewpoint and serves the interests of those in power, we say it is a hegemonic ideology.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Ideologies can also be resistant. Those that are established to counter or challenge a hegemonic ideology are called resistant ideologies.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>The critic interprets how the artifact uses the ideology to exercise power and control.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Because ideological criticism is deeply invested in social change, it is important that critics evaluate how the artifact\u2019s ideological assumptions elevate or challenge democratic principles. These evaluations themselves can function as acts of resistance and open ways for democratic participants to enact social change.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--key-takeaways\"><header class=\"textbox__header\">\r\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">Key Terms<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\r\n\r\nagency\r\nhegemonic ideology\r\nhierarchy\r\nresistant ideology\r\nsocial construct\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--examples\"><header class=\"textbox__header\">\r\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">Review Questions<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\r\n<ol>\r\n \t<li>Explain the difference between hegemonic ideology and resistant ideology.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>What kinds of rhetorical symbols might you describe when arguing that an artifact communicates a particular ideology?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>What types of questions might you ask and answer when interpreting how a hegemonic ideology exercised power and control? A resistant ideology?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>What is the ultimate goal of ideological criticism?<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--examples\"><header class=\"textbox__header\">\r\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">Discussion Questions<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\r\n<ol>\r\n \t<li>Think of a current television commercial or music video that bothers you for some reason (for example, the way it portrays a group you belong to or a group you don\u2019t belong to). Explain to your classmates why you find the commercial problematic. Can you identify an ideology at work in the artifact?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>What ideologies do you think are good or useful? Which are bad or harmful? Explain.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>What is an example of an artifact exercising power and control? Over whom? How?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Does resistance work? In other words, can you think of a time when resistance to a hegemonic ideology made a marked difference in people\u2019s lives?<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>","rendered":"<div class=\"textbox textbox--learning-objectives\">\n<header class=\"textbox__header\">\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">Chapter Objectives<\/p>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\n<p class=\"import-pf\">Students will:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Describe an artifact\u2019s ideological message.<\/li>\n<li>Interpret how an artifact uses ideology to exercise power and control.<\/li>\n<li>Evaluate how a rhetorical artifact\u2019s ideology strengthens or weakens democratic principles.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 0pt;\">The previous chapter introduced you to ideological criticism. We explained that it is a method of rhetorical criticism that exposes the ideology communicated by a rhetorical artifact and interprets how the artifact uses the ideology to exercise power and control. We defined an ideology as a set of shared beliefs and values that forms an interpretation of the world and suggests appropriate ways to act in it. We also guided you through the first two steps of ideological criticism: identifying an appropriate rhetorical artifact and reconstructing its historical context.<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">In this chapter, we will explain the next three steps: describing the artifact\u2019s ideological message, interpreting how the artifact uses the ideology to exercise power and control, and evaluating how the ideology strengthens or weakens democratic principles.<\/p>\n<h1 class=\"import-ah\">Describing the Artifact\u2019s Ideological Message<\/h1>\n<p class=\"import-paft\">In ideological criticism, the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">description<\/em><\/span> step entails determining your artifact\u2019s ideological message. To do that, name and describe the ideology your artifact communicates (i.e., the artifact\u2019s content) as well as the rhetorical features it employs to communicate it (i.e., the forms it uses).<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"import-bh\">Name the Ideology<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_429\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-429\" style=\"width: 384px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-429\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image368.png\" alt=\"Blank nametag\" width=\"384\" height=\"240\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image368.png 384w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image368-300x188.png 300w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image368-65x41.png 65w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image368-225x141.png 225w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image368-350x219.png 350w\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-429\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/openclipart.org\/detail\/250091\/hello-my-name-is#google_vignette\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Hello My Name Is<\/a> by Gordon Dillon Johnson via Openclipart, <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/public-domain\/pdm\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Public Domain<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"import-paft\">Critical to ideological criticism is naming the ideology the artifact elevates or challenges. As mentioned previously, an ideology is a set of shared beliefs and values that forms an interpretation of the world and suggests appropriate ways to act in it. Notice that an ideology consists of a <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">set<\/em><\/span> or <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">collection<\/em><\/span> of beliefs and values that coheres into a perspective. Students often mistake a single value or belief for an ideology.<\/p>\n<table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<td class=\"TableGrid-C\" style=\"border: solid windowtext 0.5pt;\">\n<p class=\"import-tch\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Not an Ideology<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td class=\"TableGrid-C\" style=\"border: solid windowtext 0.5pt;\">\n<p class=\"import-tch\"><span style=\"color: #339966;\"><strong>Is an Ideology<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr class=\"TableGrid-R\">\n<td class=\"TableGrid-C\" style=\"border: solid windowtext 0.5pt;\">\n<p class=\"import-td\">Devotion<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td class=\"TableGrid-C\" style=\"border: solid windowtext 0.5pt;\">\n<p class=\"import-td\">Patriotism<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"TableGrid-R\">\n<td class=\"TableGrid-C\" style=\"border: solid windowtext 0.5pt;\">\n<p class=\"import-td\">Devotion is a single value.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td class=\"TableGrid-C\" style=\"border: solid windowtext 0.5pt;\">\n<p class=\"import-td\">Patriotism consists of a <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">set<\/em><\/span> of beliefs and values:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>devotion<\/li>\n<li>sacrifice<\/li>\n<li>pride<\/li>\n<li>attachment to one\u2019s homeland<\/li>\n<li>belief that one should do what\u2019s best for their country and its inhabitants<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">You will know you are naming an ideology when you can identify the collection of interrelated values and beliefs that form the outlook. Box 35.1 offers a list of sample ideologies to help you get started.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox\">\n<p><strong>Box 35.1 Examples of Ideologies<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 120px;\">\n<div class=\"twocolumn\">\n<p style=\"font-size: 20px;\">Agricultural sustainability<br \/>\nAtheism<br \/>\nBuddhism<br \/>\nChristianity<br \/>\nCollectivism<br \/>\nConservativism<br \/>\nConsumerism<br \/>\nDemocracy<br \/>\nEgalitarianism<br \/>\nEnvironmentalism<br \/>\nFair trade<br \/>\nFeminism<br \/>\nHegemonic masculinity<br \/>\nHeteronormativity<br \/>\nHinduism<br \/>\nHumanism<br \/>\nIdealism<br \/>\nImperialism<br \/>\nIndividualism<br \/>\nIslam<br \/>\nJudaism<br \/>\nLiberalism<br \/>\nLibertarianism<br \/>\nLocotarianism (food movement)<br \/>\nMarxism<br \/>\nNationalism<br \/>\nNeoliberalism<br \/>\nNihilism<br \/>\nPacifism<br \/>\nPatriotism<br \/>\nRacism<br \/>\nRealism<br \/>\nSexism<br \/>\nSocial Darwinism<br \/>\nSocialism<br \/>\nTechnological utopianism<strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h3 class=\"import-ch\">Hegemonic Ideologies<\/h3>\n<p class=\"import-paft\"><img class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image369.png\" alt=\"image\" width=\"108.4px\" height=\"108.4px\" \/>In addition to naming the ideology, identify if it is hegemonic or resistant. A <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">hegemonic ideology<\/strong><\/span> is an ideology that has become a predominant way of seeing the world and serves the interests of those who hold institutional or social power. You will know an ideology is a predominant viewpoint because it is promoted, practiced, or reinforced through institutional (social, economic, educational, political, and religious) practices and policies, and it is likely reflected in majority opinions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\"><img class=\"alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image370.png\" alt=\"image\" width=\"115.533333333333px\" height=\"115.533333333333px\" \/>Hegemonic ideologies typically privilege people who hold positions of power and\/or who have dominantly situated positionalities. In chapter 7, we drew on standpoint theory to explain that our social identities influence our knowledge of the world and our perceptions of what is \u201ctrue\u201d or \u201cnormal.\u201d Dominantly situated identities\u2014such as those perceived as white, able-bodied, or native English speaking\u2014occupy positions of social privilege. They are granted more social power and prestige than their marginally situated counterparts, such as those perceived as nonwhite, physically disabled, or nonnative English speaking. Hegemonic ideologies typically promote values and beliefs that reinforce the power of dominantly situated identities, though we often are unaware of this function.<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Indeed, hegemonic ideologies are so predominant that most people perceive their values and beliefs as given. That is, these ideologies seem natural, commonsensical, or even ordained by god. In the United States, for example, we might identify such hegemonic ideologies as the following:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Christianity<\/li>\n<li>individualism<\/li>\n<li>heteronormativity<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"import-pcon\">You might support and adhere to one or more of these ideologies. We all support some hegemonic ideologies because we find their beliefs valid and their values laudable. Frankly, it\u2019s very difficult to reject all hegemonic ideologies and belong to a society.<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Remember, though, that hegemonic ideologies typically serve the needs and interests of dominantly situated positionalities while ignoring, downplaying, or rejecting the needs and interests of marginally situated positionalities (locally or globally). We\u2019ll return to this notion when we discuss the step of interpreting your artifact\u2019s ideological work. The point here is that it is helpful to identify if the ideology communicated by your artifact is hegemonic and, if so, if your artifact reinforces this ideology or calls it into question.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox\">\n<p><strong>Box 35.2 Naming Hegemonic Ideologies in #IfTheyGunnedMeDown<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In the previous chapter, we introduced you to a Twitter (now X) campaign named <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId771\" href=\"https:\/\/knowyourmeme.com\/memes\/if-they-gunned-me-down\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"import-url\">#<\/span><span class=\"import-url\">IfTheyGunned<\/span> <span class=\"import-url\">MeDown<\/span><\/a><\/span>. It began on August 10, 2014, one day after Missouri police officer Darren Wilson shot and killed a young, Black man named Michael Brown. The campaign sought to highlight the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId772\" href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/K57G-4BXA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"import-url\">news media\u2019s repeated habit of publicizing pictures of Black people that make them appear potentially menacing<\/span><\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">In tweets, African American participants paired two photos, with one photo presenting themselves in a potentially negative light and the other photo depicting themselves in a more positive light (as graduates, parents, public servants, etc.). In most cases, the person posting included the hashtag #IfTheyGunnedMeDown to provoke viewers to wonder which photo the news media would publicize if a police officer killed the person posting.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Yes let&#8217;s do that: Which photo does the media use if the police shot me down? <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/IfTheyGunnedMeDown?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">#IfTheyGunnedMeDown<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/t.co\/Ng0pUlxWhr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pic.twitter.com\/Ng0pUlxWhr<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 C.J. Lawrence (@CJLawrenceEsq) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CJLawrenceEsq\/status\/498537843170353152?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">August 10, 2014<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">We return to this example in this chapter to illustrate the description, interpretation, and evaluation steps of ideological criticism. Here we begin with description by naming the ideologies the tweets elevated or challenged.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">In the case of #IfTheyGunnedMeDown tweets, we can identify <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">racism<\/strong><\/span> as the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">hegemonic ideology<\/strong><\/span> communicated <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">and<\/em><\/span> challenged.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">In each tweet, the rhetor provided a photograph that portrayed a person of color in ways that <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">could <\/strong><strong class=\"import-bi\"><em>trigger racist associations<\/em><\/strong><\/span> of Black people with criminality. In the US, racism is hegemonic, sadly; its ongoing influence can be found in social, legal, educational, political, and religious institutions, and it serves the dominantly situated positionality of whiteness by associating it, in contrast, with purity and innocence. <a class=\"footnote\" title=\"Lisa Flores, \u201cBetween Abundance and Marginalization: The Imperative of Racial Rhetorical Criticism,\u201d Review of Communication 16, no. 1 (2016): 4\u201324.\" id=\"return-footnote-518-1\" href=\"#footnote-518-1\" aria-label=\"Footnote 1\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[1]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">The tweets <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-bi\"><em>challenged<\/em><\/strong><strong class=\"import-b\"> racism<\/strong><\/span> by pairing each photograph with a second that portrayed the same person in roles and activities we typically celebrate (as a soldier, graduate, parent, etc.). The pairing made clear that the racist associations with one set of images were unfair and racially biased.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h3 class=\"import-ch\">Resistant Ideologies<\/h3>\n<h3 class=\"import-ch\"><img class=\"alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image372.png\" alt=\"image\" width=\"107.533333333333px\" height=\"107.533333333333px\" \/><\/h3>\n<p class=\"import-paft\">Just as there are hegemonic ideologies, there are also resistant ideologies. A <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">resistant ideology<\/strong><\/span> is one that directly challenges a hegemonic ideology. To revisit our earlier examples,<\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr class=\"TableGrid-R\">\n<td class=\"TableGrid-C\" style=\"border: solid windowtext 0.5pt;\">\n<p class=\"import-td\">Egalitarianism<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td class=\"TableGrid-C\" style=\"border: solid windowtext 0.5pt;\" rowspan=\"3\">\n<p class=\"import-td\">resist(s)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td class=\"TableGrid-C\" style=\"border: solid windowtext 0.5pt;\">\n<p class=\"import-td\">heteronormativity.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"TableGrid-R\">\n<td class=\"TableGrid-C\" style=\"border: solid windowtext 0.5pt;\">\n<p class=\"import-td\">Collectivism<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td class=\"TableGrid-C\" style=\"border: solid windowtext 0.5pt;\">\n<p class=\"import-td\">individualism.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"TableGrid-R\">\n<td class=\"TableGrid-C\" style=\"border: solid windowtext 0.5pt;\">\n<p class=\"import-td\">Alternative religious systems (Hinduism, Islam, etc.) or nonreligious ideologies (atheism)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td class=\"TableGrid-C\" style=\"border: solid windowtext 0.5pt;\">\n<p class=\"import-td\">Christianity.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Artifacts that challenge hegemonic ideologies often (but not always) also promote a resistant ideology.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox\">\n<p><strong>Box 35.3 Naming Resistant Ideologies in #IfTheyGunnedMeDown<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>We might argue that the #IfTheyGunnedMeDown tweets promoted the resistant ideology of <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">humanism<\/strong><\/span> as they sought to challenge the racial bias in typical photographs circulated by the media of Black individuals. By pairing two very different photographs of themselves, the rhetors reminded viewers of how <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">we all pose and appear differently<\/strong><\/span> in varied contexts. They prompted viewers to realize we all have at least two images of ourselves that might prompt very different conclusions about us. In doing so, the tweets <strong>promoted the belief <\/strong>in our common human experience as well as the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">value<\/strong><\/span> of emphasizing our shared connections.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"import-bh\">Describe the Artifact\u2019s Rhetorical Symbols That Communicate the Ideology<\/h2>\n<p class=\"import-paft\"><img class=\"alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image373.png\" alt=\"image\" width=\"117.333333333333px\" height=\"117.333333333333px\" \/>In addition to naming the ideology communicated by the artifact and identifying it as hegemonic or resistant, you must specify <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">how<\/em><\/span> the artifact communicates the ideology.<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Focus on the artifact\u2019s <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">verbal,<\/em><em class=\"import-i\"> nonverbal, visual<\/em><em class=\"import-i\">,<\/em><em class=\"import-i\"> and audio <\/em><em class=\"import-i\">symbols<\/em><\/span> that convey its ideological message. For instance, if your artifact is a photograph,<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>How is it visually framed or cropped?<\/li>\n<li>Is it in black and white or color?<\/li>\n<li>What is the eye drawn to first?<\/li>\n<li>Is there text within the photograph itself or superimposed on the photograph?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">If your artifact is a music video,<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What lyrics accompany what scenes?<\/li>\n<li>How are scenes visually shot?<\/li>\n<li>How is the singer or character in the video dressed?<\/li>\n<li>What does the lighting emphasize or what is placed in the shadows?<\/li>\n<li>How does the music change in volume and tempo as the video progresses?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Also consider who or what is <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">missing<\/em><\/span> from your artifact. Use your reconstruction of the historical context to notice conspicuous absences. Overall, look closely at the artifact and help your audience understand how its rhetorical features and absences communicate the ideology.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox\">\n<p><strong>Box 35.4 Rhetorical Symbols to Describe and Interpret in Ideological Criticism<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">verbal symbols<\/strong><\/span>: word choice, juxtaposition of words with visual or audio features<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">nonverbal symbols:<\/strong><\/span> appearance, facial expressions, gestures, posture, eye contact, physical movement<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">visual <\/strong><strong class=\"import-b\">symbols<\/strong><strong class=\"import-b\">:<\/strong><\/span> color, lighting, framing, font of text in the image, camera angle, distance, editing or juxtaposition of images, symbols, materials used, size<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">audio <\/strong><strong class=\"import-b\">symbols<\/strong><strong class=\"import-b\">:<\/strong><\/span> sound quality, tempo, pitch, volume, juxtaposition of sound with visual or verbal features<\/li>\n<li><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">absence:<\/strong><\/span> based on your reconstruction of the context, who or what is conspicuously missing or downplayed by the artifact<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"import-bh\">Which Comes First? Naming the Ideology or Describing the Artifact\u2019s Rhetorical Symbols?<\/h2>\n<p class=\"import-paft\">Describing an artifact\u2019s rhetorical symbols goes hand in hand with identifying the artifact\u2019s ideology. You can tackle them together.<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">However, you may find it helpful to <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">begin with<\/em><\/span> the artifact\u2019s rhetorical <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">symbols<\/em><\/span> and use them to help you name the ideology the artifact communicates. You can, in other words, <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">work backward<\/em><\/span> from the rhetorical symbols to naming the ideology:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Spend time with your artifact and list its most striking rhetorical <em>symbols<\/em>, whether they are verbal, nonverbal, visual, or audio, as well as any glaring absences.<\/li>\n<li>Identify the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">belief or value<\/em><\/span> each symbol communicates or challenges. This may take some time.<\/li>\n<li>Then look over your list and decide what <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">ideology<\/em><\/span> pulls the beliefs and values together into a coherent perspective. You may find it helpful to look back through the sample ideologies in box 35.1 or talk with your instructor for help.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"textbox\">\n<p><strong>Box 35.5 Moving from Describing the Rhetorical Symbols of, to Naming the Ideologies Communicated by, #IfTheyGunnedMeDown Posts<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If we were unsure of what ideologies the Twitter (now X) posts communicate, we might focus initially on their rhetorical symbols. We would probably begin by listing patterns in the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">visual <\/strong><strong class=\"import-b\">and nonverbal <\/strong><strong class=\"import-b\">contrasts<\/strong><\/span> between the photographs coupled together, including their differing<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>physical settings,<\/li>\n<li>lighting,<\/li>\n<li>facial expressions,<\/li>\n<li>camera angles, and<\/li>\n<li>ways the subject is depicted in their attire, expression, gestures, or activity.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">We could then move to the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">beliefs and values<\/strong><\/span> these features communicate.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>We might notice, for example, that the visual imagery in one group of photographs can be read through a racist lens as suggesting a threat (or guilt).<\/li>\n<li>The other group of photos communicates innocence by depicting success, pride, joy, and devotion.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">We might next consider the consistent <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">verbal feature<\/strong><\/span> in the posts. The hashtag \u201c#IfTheyGunnedMeDown\u201d returns to <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">beliefs<\/strong><\/span> of guilt and innocence but flips the racist script. It suggests that \u201cThey\u201d (the police) are guilty of killing or harming \u201cMe,\u201d the innocent Black person depicted in both photos. Through visual, verbal, and nonverbal features together, then, the tweets promoted the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">belief (and values)<\/strong><\/span> that if the police unfairly acted violently against the rhetor, one photo would showcase the rhetor\u2019s innocence while one might imply the victim was the perpetrator.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">The tweets\u2019 communication of these beliefs and values, <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">along with their historical context of appearing the day after<\/em><\/span> <a class=\"rId776\" href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/K57G-4BXA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em class=\"import-url-i\">NBC News publicized a particular image of Michael Brown<\/em><\/a>, can help us piece together the ideologies they communicate. They illuminated and challenged the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">hegemonic<\/strong><\/span> <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">ideology of racism<\/strong><\/span> at work in photos more often selected by the media by pairing them with photos the media <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">could have selected<\/em><\/span> that communicate the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">resistant ideology of humanism<\/strong><\/span>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Taking time to carefully list all the significant rhetorical symbols of your artifact\u2014and identify what value or belief each communicates\u2014will serve you well. Most directly, it will help you <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">name the ideology<\/em><\/span> communicated by the artifact.<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">In addition, such work will aid you in identifying and explaining to your audience the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">specific beliefs and values<\/em><\/span> that compose that ideology. It\u2019s not enough to name the ideology; you need to briefly define and describe its contents as well.<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Further, such preparation will also help you name and point out <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">specific rhetorical <\/em><em class=\"import-i\">symbols<\/em><\/span> that communicate the ideology. You may want to pair your descriptions with well-designed visual aids or include an audio or video clip that focuses attention on specific <img class=\"alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image374.png\" alt=\"image\" width=\"109.333333333333px\" height=\"109.333333333333px\" \/>rhetorical symbols. They can help supply evidence needed for your claims about the artifact\u2019s ideological messaging. If you jump to your interpretations without pointing out the presence of ideological features in your artifact, your interpretation will lack validity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Finally, listing your artifact\u2019s rhetorical symbols will set you up well to make <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">interpretations<\/em><\/span>, which is what we turn to next.<\/p>\n<h1 class=\"import-ah\">Interpreting How the Artifact Exercises Power and Control<\/h1>\n<p class=\"import-paft\">If you only identify an artifact\u2019s ideology and rhetorical symbols but don\u2019t interpret how they function persuasively, you will mostly have summarized or narrated the artifact. You will miss its symbolic action.<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">To <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">interpret<\/em><\/span> an artifact using ideological criticism, infer how it uses an ideology to exercise power and control. We will unpack what that means\u2014and explain how to do it\u2014by providing the concept of agency as well as additional factors to consider when your artifact supports a hegemonic ideology, when it resists a hegemonic ideology, and when it does not neatly do either.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"import-bh\">Agency<\/h2>\n<p class=\"import-paft\"><img class=\"alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image375.png\" alt=\"image\" width=\"137.28px\" height=\"137.28px\" \/><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">Agency<\/strong><\/span> is an individual\u2019s ability to act freely or to independently intervene in a situation, their own life, and the world. When you analyze an artifact for agency, you interpret how the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">artifact depicts<\/em><\/span> an individual or group\u2019s freedom to act. Agency is particularly important in ideological criticism because it helps you discover how artifacts employ ideologies in ways that attempt to expand or contract the liberty of others. You can also reveal the ways democratic participants can resist such messages.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox\">\n<p><strong>Box 35.6 Agency in #IfTheyGunnedMeDown<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If we return to the tweets, we see how the paired photographs drew attention to the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">agency exercised by major news corporations<\/strong><\/span> like NBC News over the images they select to report stories involving people of color. The posts suggested that of the photographs publicly available, <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">the news media <\/strong><strong class=\"import-bi\"><em>chose<\/em><\/strong><\/span> an image that could be damning when reporting about crime or violence. Relatedly, the posts highlighted the <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-bi\"><em>lack <\/em><\/strong><strong class=\"import-b\">of agency that people of color<\/strong><\/span>, such as Brown, have over how they are depicted by the news media.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_437\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-437\" style=\"width: 375px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img class=\"wp-image-437\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image376.png\" alt=\"Two hands reach toward each other. One has words on it like &quot;unite&quot; and &quot;relate to&quot; while the other has words like &quot;welcome,&quot; &quot;regard,&quot; and &quot;us.&quot;\" width=\"375\" height=\"289\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image376.png 607w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image376-300x231.png 300w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image376-65x50.png 65w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image376-225x173.png 225w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image376-350x270.png 350w\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-437\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/illustrations\/unity-community-union-hands-1767694\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Image<\/a> by John Hain via Pixabay, <a href=\"https:\/\/pixabay.com\/service\/license-summary\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pixabay Content License<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">By posting the paired images, however, <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">Twitter <\/strong><strong class=\"import-b\">(now X) <\/strong><strong class=\"import-b\">users asserted their own agency<\/strong><\/span> and invited audiences to join them in seeking social change. C. J. Lawrence sparked the broad participation through his <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId780\" href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/2GHV-NNGE\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"import-url\">original tweet<\/span><\/a><\/span> when he said, \u201cYes let\u2019s do that: Which photo does the media use if the police shot me down? #IfTheyGunnedMeDown.\u201d He later shared <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId781\" href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/Z7RC-AMVF\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"import-url\">in an interview<\/span><\/a><\/span> that \u201cWhen I say, \u2018Yes, let\u2019s do that,\u2019 my intention was that people would participate.\u201d<a class=\"footnote\" title=\"Ethan Zuckerman, \u201c#iftheygunnedmedown Six Years Later, and Just as Vital\u2014an Interview with Activist C. J. Lawrence,\u201d Ethan Zuckerman (blog), June 5, 2020, https:\/\/ethanzuckerman.com\/2020\/06\/05\/iftheygunnedmedown-six-years-later-and-just-as-vital-an-interview-with-activist-c-j-lawrence\/.\" id=\"return-footnote-518-2\" href=\"#footnote-518-2\" aria-label=\"Footnote 2\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[2]<\/sup><\/a> His use of \u201clet\u2019s\u201d <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">called out to readers who shared his frustrations to join the campaign<\/strong><\/span>. As they did, they promoted positive images of Black individuals, <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">reclaiming some of their agency<\/strong><\/span> and <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">circumventing the major news media\u2019s gatekeeping<\/strong><\/span>. These photos helped promote the ideology of humanism by depicting themselves in ways all viewers could relate to and identify with.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">When you interpret your artifact\u2019s persuasive functions, ask how it renders an individual\u2019s or group\u2019s agency, using the prompts in box 35.7. Your interpretations of agency can and should contribute to your analysis of how your artifact supported hegemonic ideologies, resisted hegemonic ideologies, or both.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox\">\n<p><strong>Box 35.7 Questions to Ask About Agency<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>How much and what type of freedom does the artifact depict people as having or exercising? Which people?<\/li>\n<li>How does the artifact depict an individual or group as lacking freedom or being controlled by or under the power of others?<\/li>\n<li>Does the artifact conspicuously exclude anyone? If so, how might their exclusion attempt to restrict or expand their or others\u2019 agency?<\/li>\n<li>How does the artifact\u2019s depiction of agency help justify or challenge a particular ideology, especially given the historical context?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"import-bh\">When Your Artifact Supports a Hegemonic Ideology<\/h2>\n<p class=\"import-paft\"><img class=\"alignleft\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image370-1.png\" alt=\"image\" width=\"115.533333333333px\" height=\"115.533333333333px\" \/>Remember that a hegemonic ideology is a set of values, beliefs, interpretations, and assumptions that becomes a predominant viewpoint and serves the political and economic interests of dominantly situated positionalities. Consequently, they are typically used to portray and legitimize those standpoints as superior to marginally situated positionalities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">If your artifact reinforces a hegemonic ideology, then interpret how the artifact uses that ideology to exercise power and control. Use the questions in box 35.8 to guide your interpretations.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox\">\n<p><strong>Box 35.8 Questions to Ask When an Artifact Supports a Hegemonic Ideology<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Who or what does the artifact depict as desirable, moral, innocent, trustworthy, normal, and\/or good-natured? Are they dominantly situated positionalities? How does the artifact encourage audiences to side with them?<\/li>\n<li>Who or what does the artifact define as undesirable, immoral, guilty, sneaky, abnormal, and\/or threatening? Are they marginally situated positionalities? How does the artifact encourage audiences to reject or disapprove of them?<img class=\"alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image377.png\" alt=\"image\" width=\"143.066666666667px\" height=\"143.066666666667px\" \/><\/li>\n<li>What way of acting or behaving in the world is highlighted\u2014or even praised\u2014in the artifact? What ideas, beliefs, or values does the artifact obscure or hide\u2014or perhaps overtly discredit?<\/li>\n<li>What <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">hierarchies<\/strong><\/span>\u2014unequal ranking(s) of people or groups\u2014does the artifact produce through its ideological messaging? Hierarchies can consist of multiple, ranked groups.<\/li>\n<li>How does the artifact use hierarchies to try to justify or legitimate particular actions or policies? To serve the needs of those in power? To ignore, downplay, or reject the needs of marginally situated positionalities?<\/li>\n<li>How does the artifact present the ideological beliefs, values, and depictions as natural or normal? How does it discourage audiences from questioning it?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox\">\n<p><strong>Box 35.9 Interpreting How News Media Imagery Exercises Power and Control<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>When the news media include a picture of the subject they are reporting about in their story, they don\u2019t typically encourage consumers to reflect on this choice. Little or no information is given about where journalists found the picture or its original context (e.g., at a Halloween party, goofing around). Consequently, their selection implies that\u2019s who the person depicted \u201cis.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">Depictions:<\/strong><\/span> As we\u2019ve established, <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId783\" href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/K57G-4BXA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"import-url\">NBC News publicized a photograph of Brown<\/span><\/a><\/span> wearing a Nike Air tank top, staring down at the camera with no smile, and showing a hand signal. This picture is innocuous on its own. But paired with the tweet\u2019s caption, \u201cUnarmed Missouri teen killed by officer after \u2018physical confrontation,\u2019\u201d the photo could be read as implying that Brown, though unarmed, prompted or even participated in the confrontation. This reading is encouraged by and reinforces the hegemonic, racist depiction of African American men as threats. By implication, this reading also implies that the (white) police officer who killed Brown acted reasonably.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">Hierarchy:<\/strong><\/span> Together, the image and caption suggest a legal and racial hierarchy where the white police officer is depicted as morally and legally superior to the African American teenager.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">Support for powerful people and institutions:<\/strong><\/span> Such depictions implicitly (and unfairly) attempt to justify or explain police officers\u2019 use of violent force against African American men. Thus, images and captions like the one NBC News used for Brown serve the interests of those in positions of power (such as police officers) within the legal system.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">Normalization:<\/strong><\/span> By selecting yet another potentially damning image of a Black man, the NBC News post helped renaturalize the association of Blackness with crime. It perpetuated racism.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"import-bh\">When Your Artifact Challenges a Hegemonic Ideology<\/h2>\n<p class=\"import-paft\">Artifacts can, alternatively, <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">challenge<\/em><\/span> a hegemonic ideology, often by exposing the hegemonic ideology as a social construct. A <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">social construct<\/strong><\/span> is a category, idea, or description that humans have created to explain reality. The important idea here is that a social construct is a product of human language and interactions rather than something biological, natural, or ordained by God.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_440\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-440\" style=\"width: 399px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-440\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image378.png\" alt=\"A protest sign that reads, &quot;Gender: Social Construct&quot;\" width=\"399\" height=\"267\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image378.png 399w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image378-300x201.png 300w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image378-65x43.png 65w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image378-225x151.png 225w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image378-350x234.png 350w\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-440\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/ari\/3667802148\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Gender: Social Construct<\/a> by Steve Rhodes via Flickr, <a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-sa\/2.0\/deed.en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CC BY-NC-SA<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">The goal of artifacts that challenge hegemonic ideologies is to expose them as social constructs that are human rather than natural conceptions\u2014and therefore alterable. Do women make inferior soldiers, or is that a social construct? Are fathers inherently less nurturing than mothers, or does that explanation enable fathers to spend more time in the workplace and mothers more time at home with children?<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">For artifacts that challenge hegemonic ideologies, explain to your audience how your artifact exposed a hegemonic ideology as a human (and flawed) production that can and should be changed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\"><img class=\"alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image379.png\" alt=\"image\" width=\"152px\" height=\"152px\" \/>Artifacts that challenge a hegemonic ideology often do so by advocating a resistant ideology. Recall that a resistant ideology is one that directly challenges and counters a hegemonic ideology. In such cases, the critic may also ask how the resistant ideology offers an alternative depiction (or counterpresentation) of dominantly and marginally situated identities. Does the resistant ideology replace a hierarchy with a new hierarchy (perhaps with the groups\u2019 positions switched) or a more equitable or egalitarian depiction?<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox\">\n<p><strong>Box 35.10 Questions to Ask When an Artifact Resists Hegemonic Ideology<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>How do the artifact\u2019s verbal, nonverbal, visual, or audio symbols challenge a hegemonic ideology? What does the artifact suggest is wrong with our collective way of seeing?<\/li>\n<li>What social constructs does the artifact challenge or expose?<\/li>\n<li>What hierarchy does the artifact resist?<\/li>\n<li>How does the artifact promote a resistant ideology that runs counter to a hegemonic ideology?<\/li>\n<li>What does the artifact replace the hierarchy with: a new hierarchy (that depicts a dominant group in an unflattering way and\/or presents those with less societal power favorably) or a more equitable or egalitarian depiction of individuals and groups?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox\">\n<p><strong>Box 35.11 Interpreting How #IfTheyGunnedMeDown Exercised Power and Control<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">Challenge hegemonic ideology:<\/strong> The tweets posted under <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><a class=\"rId786\" href=\"https:\/\/knowyourmeme.com\/memes\/if-they-gunned-me-down\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span class=\"import-url\">#<\/span><span class=\"import-url\">IfTheyGunnedMeDown<\/span><\/a><\/span> directly countered the racism perpetuated by the news media\u2019s choice of potentially damning images of Black people by promoting the resistant ideology of humanism. This ideology was communicated through the pairing of photographs.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">Replace hierarchy with an egalitarian depiction:<\/strong><\/span> As we established earlier, by pairing contrasting photos, the rhetors reminded viewers of how we all pose and appear differently in varied contexts. All of us have selfies that may not reflect positively on us when viewed out of context. This belief directly resisted the racist hierarchy that oppressed African Americans as threats.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">The other set of photos invited viewers to identify with Black subjects through their depiction in roles (as parents, graduates, soldiers, etc.) and doing actions (nurturing, graduating, serving, etc.) that we collectively celebrate. Such identification produced egalitarianism in our shared humanity.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\"><span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">Reveal a social construct:<\/strong><\/span> By countering racism with humanism, the paired photos revealed depictions of Black people as threats <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">as<\/em><\/span> a social construct\u2014one that could easily be replaced with depictions of the same people as productive members of society.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"import-bh\">But What If My Artifact.\u2026?<\/h2>\n<p class=\"import-paft\">Perhaps your artifact does not neatly fit into the two previous categories. Not all artifacts wholly reinforce or resist hegemonic ideologies.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_442\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-442\" style=\"width: 375px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img class=\"wp-image-442\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image380.png\" alt=\"A teacher stands near the blackboard and calls on a student who has their hand raised\" width=\"375\" height=\"250\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image380.png 613w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image380-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image380-65x43.png 65w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image380-225x150.png 225w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image380-350x234.png 350w\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-442\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pexels.com\/photo\/teacher-asking-a-question-to-the-class-5212345\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Teacher Asking a Question<\/a> by Max Fischer via Pexels, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pexels.com\/license\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pexels License<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">You may choose an artifact, for instance, that offers resistance but not in the ways we\u2019ve established. Some rhetors seek to redefine the meaning or application of a hegemonic ideology. Imagine a YouTube video that refers to public school teachers as exemplars of patriotism and recognizes their sacrifice and dedication to their country. Such a video might leave intact the values and beliefs associated with the hegemonic ideology of patriotism but resist its typical narrowed application to military veterans or government workers. As a critic, you might use the guidance in the previous sections to consider how the artifact <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">both<\/em><\/span> <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">upholds and resists<\/em><\/span> a hegemonic ideology.<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Other artifacts challenge resistant ideologies and seek to reinstate hegemonic beliefs and values. You might hear a sermon, for example, that critiques egalitarianism when it comes to gender nonbinary people and upholds a gender binary by supporting religious fundamentalism. In such cases, use the guidance provided in the previous section for <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">when artifacts reinforce hegemonic ideologies<\/em><\/span>. You might add to that your consideration of how the artifact strives to counter a resistant ideology by depicting <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">it<\/em><\/span> as a social construct.<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">A final word of caution about interpretation in ideological criticism: Not everything that is interesting about your artifact and its context may make it into your critique. You are looking, in particular, for one of two things:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>First, you might explain how symbols in your artifact reinforce a particular set of beliefs and behaviors as \u201cnatural\u201d when, in fact, these beliefs or behaviors are socially constructed, and how that ideology produces a hierarchy among individuals or groups, perhaps to try to justify a policy or action.<\/li>\n<li>Second, you may illuminate how symbols in your artifact explicitly challenge a hegemonic ideology and suggest that we can and should think and act differently\u2014especially for the benefit of those groups that are traditionally silenced, overlooked, or politically and economically oppressed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"textbox\">\n<p><strong>Box 35.12 Gender Critique as a Form of Ideological Criticism<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Questions and assumptions about gender are often rooted in ideology. Philosophers and rhetorical critics see many commonly held ideas about gender as social constructs.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">If this is a topic that interests you, you might wish to focus your critique on how gender is portrayed and prescribed in your artifact. Does your artifact reinforce the hegemonic belief about gender as a binary (i.e., men and women as separate and different), or does it challenge that assumption, such as by depicting gender as fluid or as existing along a spectrum? Do you see your artifact\u2019s portrayals of people as limiting or policing what\u2019s considered appropriately masculine or feminine? Do you want to argue that your artifact is working to expand what the culture defines as acceptable behavior and gender expression? If your answer to these (and similar) questions is yes, then your ideological criticism is performing a gender critique.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h1 class=\"import-ah\">Evaluating the Rhetorical Artifact<\/h1>\n<figure id=\"attachment_383\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-383\" style=\"width: 333px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img class=\"wp-image-383\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image330.png\" alt=\"U.S. Capitol Building exterior\" width=\"333\" height=\"500\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image330.png 358w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image330-200x300.png 200w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image330-65x98.png 65w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image330-225x338.png 225w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image330-350x525.png 350w\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-383\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pexels.com\/photo\/facade-of-the-capitol-building-7016963\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facade of the Capitol Building<\/a> by Ramaz Bluashvili via Pexels, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pexels.com\/license\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pexels License.<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"import-paft\">We wrote this chapter because we are interested in educating civically engaged critics. We believe you are more able to participate in and shape democratic organizations when you can recognize how rhetoric and ideology influence ideas and exert social control.<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">With this in mind, the final step to any rhetorical critique is to help your audiences understand how your artifact relates to democratic principles and practices. In chapter 31, we defined democratic principles as the behavioral standards necessary for democratic governance to exist and thrive, and we gave examples such as the rule of law, the unity or shared identity of community members, and the open and thoughtful engagement of public issues, arguments, and positions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">In your ideological criticism, make certain to argue how the artifact strengthens or weakens democratic principles so your audience members are equipped to be fuller participants in a democratic society.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"import-bh\">Did the Artifact Strengthen Democratic Principles? How?<\/h2>\n<p class=\"import-paft\"><img class=\"alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image382.png\" alt=\"image\" width=\"115.533333333333px\" height=\"115.533333333333px\" \/>In chapter 33, we explained that an artifact can strengthen democracy <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">directly<\/em><\/span> by explicitly advocating democratic principles or <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">indirectly<\/em><\/span> by modeling or practicing the principles. We further explained that any artifact that practices <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">responsible <\/em><em class=\"import-i\">productive discourse<\/em><\/span> indirectly reinforces democratic principles because it, as defined in chapter 4, draws on the qualities of productive discourse to produce a more inclusive and equitable public sphere. You might, then, illustrate how your artifact strengthens democratic principles by showing the following:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>how it explicitly advocates for specific democratic principles<\/li>\n<li>how it illustrates qualities of productive discourse<\/li>\n<li>how it sparks discussion about an overlooked and ongoing societal problem<\/li>\n<li>how it expands the public sphere by including historically marginalized members of the public and empowering them to act as democratic participants<\/li>\n<li>how it questions the power of historically dominant members of the public rather than unreflectively granting their perspectives authority<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 class=\"import-bh\">Did the Artifact Weaken Democratic Principles? How?<\/h2>\n<p class=\"import-paft\">Artifacts that weaken democratic principles tend <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">not<\/em><\/span> to do the things we just listed. You likely have an artifact that discourages democratic principles if you see that your artifact<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>explicitly calls for the dismissal of democratic principles, subjugates them to other values, or refuses their application to particular groups of people;<\/li>\n<li>exemplifies qualities of unproductive discourse;<\/li>\n<li>quells discussion about an overlooked and ongoing societal problem;<\/li>\n<li>restricts the public sphere by actively excluding or denigrating historically marginalized voices; or<\/li>\n<li>preserves the power of historically dominant groups by uncritically accepting their perspectives.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"textbox\">\n<p><strong>Box 35.13 Evaluating #IfTheyGunnedMeDown<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Twitter (now X) phenomenon that paired photos of young people of color <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">supported<\/strong><\/span> the democratic principles of <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">free speech and the participation of people in civic affairs<\/strong><\/span> by <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">empowering<\/strong><\/span> the young people\u2014whose voices had historically been largely excluded from news coverage\u2014to tell their own stories. Participants\u2019 posts <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">sparked a discussion<\/strong><\/span> about the ongoing but often overlooked issue of racism in the news media and <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">questioned<\/strong><\/span> the media\u2019s historic power to shape audiences\u2019 perceptions of the people they cover. The tweets also imagined <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><strong class=\"import-b\">equality<\/strong><\/span> by offering images that better matched the news media\u2019s typical, and more humanizing, photographs of white individuals.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">By revealing how such posts upheld democratic principles, an ideological analysis of the paired images can help viewers better understand the photographs as rhetorical artifacts functioning persuasively in our world.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<figure id=\"attachment_445\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-445\" style=\"width: 375px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img class=\"wp-image-445\" src=\"http:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image383.png\" alt=\"A large group of people holding signs and banners\" width=\"375\" height=\"250\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image383.png 782w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image383-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image383-768x513.png 768w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image383-65x43.png 65w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image383-225x150.png 225w, https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/77\/2025\/05\/image383-350x234.png 350w\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-445\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/photos\/people-protesting-during-daytime-cpAKc-G6lPg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">People protesting<\/a> by Vlad Tchompalov via Unsplash, <a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/license\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Unsplash License<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">The important point is that ideological criticism is ultimately interested in <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">social change<\/em><\/span>. Will a critique of Twitter (now X) posts change the way US news outlets select pictures for their publications? Maybe not. Perhaps all an analysis of the Twitter\/X feed will do is plant a seed of awareness that will move some audiences to think differently about the way they receive news and the way members of their community are portrayed in the media. Such seeds of awareness, however, have the power to grow and reshape culture when enough people take notice. The power of consciousness raising should not be ignored, as it encourages the sharing of diverse opinions, talents, and knowledge for the good of the whole.<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">Ultimately, however, ideological critique is most powerful\u2014and most true to its roots\u2014when it opens avenues for more people to participate in their society, culture, and government. An ideological critique should move people to respond and to respond with action. The original proponents of ideological criticism wanted their analyses to help change social structures and material conditions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"import-p\" style=\"text-indent: 36pt;\">As you craft your ideological critique, invite your audience to participate in an action or protest to counter the form of ideological control you analyze or to support the challenge you investigated. You might model such action by producing and publicizing your own artifact that ideologically counters the one you analyzed. Similar to Lawrence\u2019s original tweet, invite your audience to join your efforts. Whatever you do, make your insights available to the public, and invite them to <span style=\"border: none windowtext 0pt; padding: 0;\"><em class=\"import-i\">move<\/em><\/span> on this evidence.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox\">\n<p>Professor of communication James Arnt Aune makes the point this way:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>There remains the risk\u2026of the scholastic illusion that \u201craising consciousness\u201d will create liberation, failing to recognize the inertia which results from the inscription of social structures in bodies.<\/p>\n<p>Radical social change\u2014dare I say \u201crevolution\u201d?\u2014appears to come when bodies learn to move in different ways, when Rosa Parks refuses to move, when drag queens riot at Stonewall, when Egyptians take to the streets against Mubarak, or when workers of all kinds shut down the Wisconsin State Capitol Building.<a class=\"footnote\" title=\"James Arnt Aune, \u201cThe Scholastic Fallacy, Habitus, and Symbolic Violence: Pierre Bourdieu and the Prospects of Ideology Criticism,\u201d Western Journal of Communication 75, no. 4 (2011): 432.\" id=\"return-footnote-518-3\" href=\"#footnote-518-3\" aria-label=\"Footnote 3\"><sup class=\"footnote\">[3]<\/sup><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--exercises\">\n<header class=\"textbox__header\">\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">Summary<\/p>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\n<p class=\"import-paft\">As a method of criticism, ideological analysis exposes the ideology communicated by a rhetorical artifact and interprets how the artifact exercises power and control. But this method is also deeply invested in the health of our democracy and social change. Ideological criticism\u2019s goal is to help audiences resist ideological messages that constrict democratic participation and support those that expand such engagement.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>To analyze an artifact, the critic names the ideology communicated by the artifact, identifies it as hegemonic or resistant, and describes the verbal, nonverbal, visual, and audio features that convey the ideology\u2019s beliefs and values.<\/li>\n<li>When an ideology gains enough adherents that it becomes a predominant viewpoint and serves the interests of those in power, we say it is a hegemonic ideology.<\/li>\n<li>Ideologies can also be resistant. Those that are established to counter or challenge a hegemonic ideology are called resistant ideologies.<\/li>\n<li>The critic interprets how the artifact uses the ideology to exercise power and control.<\/li>\n<li>Because ideological criticism is deeply invested in social change, it is important that critics evaluate how the artifact\u2019s ideological assumptions elevate or challenge democratic principles. These evaluations themselves can function as acts of resistance and open ways for democratic participants to enact social change.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--key-takeaways\">\n<header class=\"textbox__header\">\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">Key Terms<\/p>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\n<p>agency<br \/>\nhegemonic ideology<br \/>\nhierarchy<br \/>\nresistant ideology<br \/>\nsocial construct<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--examples\">\n<header class=\"textbox__header\">\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">Review Questions<\/p>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\n<ol>\n<li>Explain the difference between hegemonic ideology and resistant ideology.<\/li>\n<li>What kinds of rhetorical symbols might you describe when arguing that an artifact communicates a particular ideology?<\/li>\n<li>What types of questions might you ask and answer when interpreting how a hegemonic ideology exercised power and control? A resistant ideology?<\/li>\n<li>What is the ultimate goal of ideological criticism?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--examples\">\n<header class=\"textbox__header\">\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">Discussion Questions<\/p>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\n<ol>\n<li>Think of a current television commercial or music video that bothers you for some reason (for example, the way it portrays a group you belong to or a group you don\u2019t belong to). Explain to your classmates why you find the commercial problematic. Can you identify an ideology at work in the artifact?<\/li>\n<li>What ideologies do you think are good or useful? Which are bad or harmful? Explain.<\/li>\n<li>What is an example of an artifact exercising power and control? Over whom? How?<\/li>\n<li>Does resistance work? In other words, can you think of a time when resistance to a hegemonic ideology made a marked difference in people\u2019s lives?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<hr class=\"before-footnotes clear\" \/><div class=\"footnotes\"><ol><li id=\"footnote-518-1\">Lisa Flores, \u201cBetween Abundance and Marginalization: The Imperative of Racial Rhetorical Criticism,\u201d <em>Review of Communication<\/em> 16, no. 1 (2016): 4\u201324. <a href=\"#return-footnote-518-1\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 1\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><li id=\"footnote-518-2\">Ethan Zuckerman, \u201c#iftheygunnedmedown Six Years Later, and Just as Vital\u2014an Interview with Activist C. J. Lawrence,\u201d <em>Ethan Zuckerman <\/em>(blog), June 5, 2020, <a href=\"https:\/\/ethanzuckerman.com\/2020\/06\/05\/iftheygunnedmedown-six-years-later-and-just-as-vital-an-interview-with-activist-c-j-lawrence\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/ethanzuckerman.com\/2020\/06\/05\/iftheygunnedmedown-six-years-later-and-just-as-vital-an-interview-with-activist-c-j-lawrence\/<\/a>. <a href=\"#return-footnote-518-2\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 2\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><li id=\"footnote-518-3\">James Arnt Aune, \u201cThe Scholastic Fallacy, Habitus, and Symbolic Violence: Pierre Bourdieu and the Prospects of Ideology Criticism,\u201d <em>Western Journal of Communication<\/em> 75, no. 4 (2011): 432. <a href=\"#return-footnote-518-3\" class=\"return-footnote\" aria-label=\"Return to footnote 3\">&crarr;<\/a><\/li><\/ol><\/div>","protected":false},"author":3,"menu_order":35,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"part":3,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/518"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"version-history":[{"count":28,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/518\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3262,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/518\/revisions\/3262"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/3"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/518\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=518"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=518"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.palni.org\/publicspeakinganddemocraticparticipation\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}