A Rhetorical Analysis of William Graham Sumner William Graham Sumner had a great influence on Social Darwinism in the nineteenth century. Sumner was a Sociology professor at Yale University, who adopted the idea of Social Darwinism because of his belief in the survival of the fittest. Even though he did not fully commit to Social Darwinism, he did promote the idea of the constant struggle against nature. He explains that in order for survival, one needs to struggle and compete with nature to provide our basic human needs of food and water. During the Gilded Age, businessmen and the middle class men supported the theory of Social Darwinism which was first introduced by the pioneers of Charles Darwin and Herbert Spencer. Sumner followed the idea that the one who attains more than the other is unequal and superior to the poor. A rhetorical analysis of Sumner’s writing is essential to make a counterargument against Social Darwinism. In order to successfully persuade an audience, you first need to understand the meaning …show more content…
He wanted to persuade the government to overturn the laws regulating corporations. He wanted corporations to have the freedom to decide whether to give to the poor. Sumner suggested that in order to favor the unfittest, we have to first destroy liberty, which means the right to choose and dispose of a product. He wanted society to favor the best so society can be advanced as a whole. Sumner uses ethos effectively because of his authority and credibility. In the “challenge of facts,” Sumner states that, “The relation, therefore, between each man’s needs and each man’s energy, or “individualism,” is the first fact of human life.”(32) Sumner is blunt in his authority to tell his audience exactly the truth and what it is. As the first to teach sociology as a professor, he has this overconfidence in his ability to use his own voice and words to persuade his