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Zion Steiner

Taylor

ENGL-1010

March 20, 2017

A Rhetorical Comparison: Blue-Collar Brilliance and Shop Class as Soulcraft

Manual labor has consumed the life of the common man since time immemorial, which is

why modern labor developments seem so strange. With jobs not directly related to production

becoming predominant in the workforce today, negative stereotypes of craftsmen have taken

hold in the minds of white-collar workers. This peculiar trend has evoked responses from Mike

Rose and Matthew B. Crawford, both men with personal ties to the shrinking sector. In Blue-

Collar Brilliance, Mike Rose refutes the assumption that blue-collar work requires little to no

intelligence by giving examples of some of the thinking these workers do as a part of their jobs.

Crawfords Shop Class as Soulcraft aims to illustrate why working a trade is still a viable and

fulfilling career, despite the trend towards automation of manufacturing. Crawford specifically

writes his essay as a response to educators discouraging students from becoming craftsmen. Both

authors address an audience who is unfamiliar with blue-collar work, a large part of which is

likely white-collar workers. Although the audiences are the same, Crawfords style is more

appropriate for an educated audience, whereas Roses diction and logic is accessible to just about

anyone. In these essays, Rose and Crawford both use personal examples and claims of fact to

explain the values associated with manual labor. While Crawford effectively utilizes both devices

to argue the merits of craftsmanship, Rose relies more heavily upon stories but fails to add any

substance to his claims of fact.

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Both authors effectively use storytelling to give examples of their points throughout. For

Crawford, it acts as a secondary strategy through which he gives first-hand examples to better

convey his thoughts. He gives two short accounts, the first being the first two paragraphs in the

essays second section. Crawford uses information about his own experience as an electricians

assistant to introduce his thoughts on the section The Psychic Appeal of Manual Work. He

effectively builds off the story by adding different benefits craft can have, using statements in the

story like it was an experience of agency and competence as a scaffold. The audience is

smoothly transitioned from the examples he offers to the points he uses them to make. By doing

this, his readers are better able to follow and understand his thinking. Crawford later uses an

example of his motorcycle repair shop in a comparable way. It shows how he used practical

knowledge and intuition when working with bikes, illuminating what he means when he says,

There was more thinking going on in the bike shop than in the think tank. Crawford may not

have centered his paper around his stories, but he still used them in such a way that they fulfilled

their purpose well.

In Roses case, his essay would have been nothing without his extensive storytelling. He

begins his essay by remembering the bustling restaurant his mother worked in when he was

growing up, which consumes the first two pages. This is a stark difference to Crawfords more

succinct style. He combines good imagery with a snapshot of his mothers skill as a waitress to

immerse his audience. Readers can visualize Roses mother work as though they were there

themselves. This is an advantage, one that works especially well for accommodating readers who

may not be familiar with formal language. In a similar fashion, Rose recounts his uncles duties

and the thinking he used as a factory foreman. This passage functions to give the reader a quick
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synopsis of the mental tasks required of someone who is not typically considered to be

intelligent, despite his impressive problem-solving ability.

Matthew Crawford uses claims and statements in a way that greatly benefits his essay.

For example, Crawford states, And in fact, in areas of well-developed craft, technological

developments typically preceded and gave rise to advances in scientific understanding, not vice

versa. Within context, Crawford uses this fact not only to state a trend, but to emphasize the

importance of craft to the development of science. It acts as a sort of rebuttal to an implied

argument that craft is useless to the advancement of science. This may appeal to certain readers

who value science. They are reminded that it is often the practical man who discovers practical

solutions to practical problems he finds. These discoveries are often more important than pure

theory from inexperienced philosophers. Crawford also is able to communicate how he and

others like him value their work. He says, Shared memories attach to the material souvenirs of

our lives, and producing them is a kind of communion, with others and with the future. Through

his claim of personal value and understanding, Crawford shares a potential reward he earns from

his craft. This serves to tell his audience why craftsmen do what they do, and why the audience

might want to consider doing it themselves. He uses claims like these to send effective messages

to the audience.

Claims of fact and value is where Rose lacks the most. When Rose writes, Although

writers and scholars have often looked at the working class, they have generally focused on the

values such workers exhibit rather on the thought their work requires- a subtle but pervasive

omission, it weakens his essay. This is because this statement of fact makes it seem as though he

wants readers to significantly notice the mental work blue-collar workers do, but to the audience

it appears to be a meaningless thing to focus on. It makes Rose look like he is pushing an opinion
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of no real importance. It is inefficient to focus on the mental work service workers do because it

is not their specialty. Another example is when Rose includes points about the numbers, math,

and reading blue-collar workers encounter in their jobs, particularly on pages 6-7. His points

begin to fall apart at this point in the essay because he is pointing out the obvious and pretending

that his readers are oblivious to the fact that blue-collar workers use very basic skills such as

these. It may come across as insulting to the audience. The fact that Rose points out that these

workers occasionally read labels and count is not a point he should have dedicated room in his

essay for, especially two pages worth. It makes it look as though he has no real points to make,

so he is improvising to place importance in something he cares about, but has no good reasons to

support it.

In summation, Crawfords essay holds together in a powerful manner, while Roses falls

apart at the end. Roses biggest shortcoming was his nave claims of fact that had nothing to offer

the rest of his essay. It is also important to note that although Rose relied heavily on his lengthy

stories, Crawfords short alternatives hold similar value. When comparing the storytelling and

claims each author used, it is clear that Shop Class as Soulcraft is superior to Blue-Collar

Brilliance.
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Works Cited

Crawford, Matthew B. "Shop Class as Soulcraft." The New Atlantis. The New Atlantis, n.d. Web.

28 Mar. 2017.

Rose, Mike. "Blue-Collar Brilliance." The American Scholar: Blue-Collar Brilliance Mike

Rose. The American Scholar, n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2017.