A Rhetorical Analysis Of Freakonomics By Levitt And Dubner

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1. Summaries: a. Intro: There is a hidden side to everything, no matter what it is in the world of economics. There is a disparity in morality and reality—morality is how we want the world to work, and reality or economics is how the world actually works. Book goes on to layout Freakonomics and define unusual phenomena that later become chapters. b. Chapter 1: This chapter talks about how everyone, no matter income level or kind, has an incentive to cheat to do just a little better. Schoolteachers change answers on scantrons to help students do better because they are penalized for negative scores. Sumo wrestlers, who are considered with honor, often have rigged matches to maximize profits. It seems as if when an income level increases for …show more content…

Rhetorical Analysis: Comment briefly (3 to 5 sentences) on the rhetorical elements below. The purpose of this section is to highlight the book's distinctive features. 1. Exegesis: The thesis, or main point of this book is that how the real world operates is called economics. Conventional wisdom is often wrong, information rules the world, people only follow incentives, and often obscure correlations can have massive results/spillovers. “This book has no unifying theme,” but the message is very clear (Levitt & Dubner 12). 2. Audience: The audience for Freakonomics is anyone that is well educated, and interested in learning more about the world of economics. Freakonomics is for those who accept the validity of thinking outside the box, and those who just want a good read. Being a New York Times bestseller means a wide audience appreciates the interesting connections in this book. 3. Purpose: As the authors put it, “the aim of this book is to explore the hidden side of…everything” (12). Instead of looking at economics as a cold, hard science, the authors aim to add the human touch by taking into consideration human tendencies when making economics arguments. Freakonomics is an unconventional book in that it brings multiples sides and arguments to old data to come to new