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Melise Wall

Andrea Malouf

English 1010

07 March 2018

Rhetorical Analysis

Matthew Crawford, “Shop Class as Soulcraft” and Mike Rose, “Blue Collar Brilliance”

talked about jobs having different aspects to them. Crawford’s purpose was deeply involved with

those who have jobs, different levels in it, meaning craftsmanship, mechanic. Rose’s purpose

was to communicate that in jobs the workers have more than the obvious tasks that we think of

them having to do in their job, meaning being a waitress, plumber. Crawford’s argued if we have

a job, we need to do our part, such as a modern knowledge engineer. Rose’s argued saying that

we got to dig deeper, to know what is expected in a job, he was referring to observing waitresses.

Crawford’s intended audience are those who are interested to know more about different areas in

jobs, such as being a craftsman, and skilled manual work. Rose’s intended audience are they who

don’t realize how structured being a waitress is. Crawford, and Rose, use a similar rhetorical

strategy in their individual texts. Both specifically use claims of fact and value in their published

articles. They do this to give their point in what is logically a matter in the examples in jobs they

use, instead mentioning that jobs are what they are from an outsider view who doesn’t know

from that view.

To start, Crawford’s purpose was to communicate that jobs have different levels within

them. Having an understanding that jobs go narrower than the eye is powerful. “Craftsmanship

means dwelling on a task for a long time and going deeply into it, because one wants to get it
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right” (Crawford, 11). Craftsmanship is focusing a lot on a task for so much into specifics, the

one wants to get it correct. By going deep into the flow, the workers become more involved in

their job, they see it from a better view. A perspective which helps them at work.

Rose’s purpose was in him writing the jobs the workers have more than the obvious than

we think for them to manage their job. Getting educated from a personal perspective is

fundamental to knowing the complexity of certain jobs. “And then, of course, there were the

customers who entered the restaurant with all sorts of needs, from physiological ones, including

the emotions that accompany hunger, to a sometimes complicated desire for human contact. Her

tip depended on how well she responded to these needs, and so she became adept at reading

social cues and managing feelings, both the customers’ and her own” (Rose). The waitresses

focus on how to meet the needs, for their customers rather than only giving them food. The

worker gets to focus on his / her feelings, as well what the customer’s feelings to help the job

flow well in the situation.

Crawford argued that if we have a job, we are to do our part. He mentioned that

members not really doing their responsibility, the job expectation lowers. He said that one needs

to be a part of a community to do certain jobs well. “It would probably be impossible to do such

work in isolation, without access to a collective historical memory; you have to be embedded in

a community of mechanic-antiquarians” (14). Working in isolation can be viewed poorly, by not

using our sources. Doing deep work alone, can cause us to not do our part efficiently in a job.

Rose argued that we got to dig deeper, to know what is expected in a job. He wrote of

waitresses doing their job is more than getting orders. He lets the reader know that jobs are more

than they originally seem to be. “A worker must also know the characteristics of the material one

is engaging—how it reacts to various cutting or compressing devices, to degrees of heat, or to

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lines of force. Some of these things demand judgment, the weighing of options, the consideration

of multiple variables, and, occasionally, the creative use of a tool in an unexpected way” (Rose).

Getting the point that they have a system to use, can help us to better know the expectations in a

job. There are different key facts to know why going deeper is essential in a job, helps the

workers use their part more wisely, affects others too.

Crawford’s main audience are those who are interested to know more about different

areas in jobs. He clarifies how jobs have different perspectives. “Those constraints cannot be

arrived at deductively, starting from mathematical entities. It is worth noting in passing that this

has implications for the theory of mind favored by artificial intelligence researchers, as it speaks

to the “computability” of pragmatic cognition” (13). This brings up that certain limits are not

able to enter in a certain way, which involves those with smart ability. To know what the

restrictions are, helps the intended audience have a better grasp towards categories in the job.

Rose’s central audience are they who do not realize how structured being a waitress is.

He brings a point to what he is meaning. “A waitress acquires knowledge and intuition about the

ways and the rhythms of the restaurant business. Waiting on seven to nine tables, each with two

to six customers, Rosie devised memory strategies so that she could remember who ordered

what. And because she knew the average time it took to prepare different dishes, she could

monitor an order that was taking too long at the service station” (Rose). Getting the point a

waitress has got to understand how to run the place we know better from their point of view. By

not being a waitress, it can seem difficult in the way they prioritize the flow of their job.

Crawford and Rose use claims of fact and value to bring the reader at a level to realize

jobs require aspects in understanding how they function. Crawford brings up that jobs take up an

amount of time to comprehend, meaning there are jobs which take more knowledge than basic
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understanding. He mentioned different scenario’s to help the intended audience know more that

jobs have different sides, meaning separate views. While Rose was mainly focusing on being a

waitress, how it has more effort than what we usually see them as. These articles are similar in

that they both focus on work, but Rose focuses more on the unseen complexity of a single job,

whereas Crawford focuses more on attitudes and choices people have and make towards their

work. Understanding better about the personal level in a job, creates comfort.
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Words Cited

Crawford, Matthew B. "Shop Class as Soulcraft." The New Atlantis. N.p., Summer 2006.

Web. 08 Mar. 2018.

Rose, Mike. "Blue-Collar Brilliance." The American Scholar. N.p., 18 Sept. 2012. Web.

08 Mar. 2018.