{"history":[],"article":{"id":"0ed5e36a-ceca-415f-8929-f478538933de","title":"Ideograph (rhetoric)","slug":"ideograph-rhetoric","content":":::summary\n:::\n\n# \nAn **ideograph** or **virtue word** is a word frequently used in political discourse that uses an abstract concept to develop support for political positions.\nSuch words are usually terms that do not have a clear definition but are used to give the impression of a clear meaning.\nAn ideograph in rhetoric often exists as a building block or simply one term or short phrase that summarizes the orientation or attitude of an ideology.\nSuch examples notably include <[liberty](https://bliptext.com/articles/liberty)>, <[freedom](https://bliptext.com/articles/freedom)>, <[democracy](https://bliptext.com/articles/democracy)> and <[rights](https://bliptext.com/articles/rights)>.\nRhetorical critics use chevrons or angle brackets (<>) to mark off ideographs.\nThe term ideograph was coined by rhetorical scholar and critic [Michael Calvin McGee](https://bliptext.com/articles/michael-calvin-mcgee) (1980) describing the use of particular words and phrases as political language in a way that captures (as well as creates or reinforces) particular ideological positions.\nMcGee sees the ideograph as a way of understanding of how specific, concrete instances of political discourse relate to the more abstract idea of political ideology.\nRobertson defines ideographs as \"political slogans or labels that encapsulate ideology in political discourse.\"\nMeanwhile, [Celeste Condit](https://bliptext.com/articles/celeste-condit) and [John Lucaites](https://bliptext.com/articles/john-lucaites), influenced by McGee, explain, \"Ideographs represent in condensed form the normative, collective commitments of the members of a public, and they typically appear in public argumentation as the necessary motivations or justifications for action performed in the name of the public.\"\nIdeographs are common in [advertising](https://bliptext.com/articles/advertising) and political discourse.\n\n# Definition\nMcGee uses the term in his seminal article \"The 'Ideograph': A Link Between Rhetoric and Ideology\" which appeared in the [Quarterly Journal of Speech](https://bliptext.com/articles/quarterly-journal-of-speech) in 1980.\nHe begins his essay by defining the practice of [ideology](https://bliptext.com/articles/ideology) as practice of political language in specific contexts—actual discursive acts by individual speakers and writers.\nThe question this raises is how does this practice of [ideology](https://bliptext.com/articles/ideology) create social control.\nMcGee's answer to this is to say that \"political language which manifests ideology seems characterized by slogans, a vocabulary of 'ideographs' easily mistaken for the technical terminology of [political philosophy](https://bliptext.com/articles/political-philosophy).\"\nHe goes on to offer his definition of \"ideograph\": \"an ideograph is an ordinary-language term found in political discourse. It is a high order abstraction representing commitment to a particular but equivocal and ill-defined normative goal.\"\nAn ideograph, then, is not just any particular word or phrase used in political discourse, but one of a particular subset of terms that are often invoked in political discourse but which does not have a clear, univocal definition.\nDespite this, in their use, ideographs are often invoked precisely to give the sense of a clearly understood and shared meaning.\nThis potency makes them the primary tools for shaping public decisions.\nIt is in this role as the [vocabulary](https://bliptext.com/articles/vocabulary) for public values and decision-making that they are linked to ideology.\n\n# Examples\nThere is no absolute litmus test for what terms are or are not ideographs.\nRather, this is a judgment that must be made through the study of specific examples of discourse.\nHowever, McGee (and others who have followed him) have identified several examples of ideographs or virtue words in Western liberal political discourse, such as <[liberty](https://bliptext.com/articles/liberty)>, <[property](https://bliptext.com/articles/property)>, <[freedom of speech](https://bliptext.com/articles/freedom-of-speech)>, <[religion](https://bliptext.com/articles/religion)>, and <[equality](https://bliptext.com/articles/social-equality)>.\nIn each case, the term does not have a specific [referent](https://bliptext.com/articles/referent).\nRather, each term refers to an [abstraction](https://bliptext.com/articles/abstraction) which may have many different meanings depending on its [context](https://bliptext.com/articles/context-language-use).\nIt is in their mutability between circumstances that give the terms such rhetorical power.\nIf the definition of a term such as <[equality](https://bliptext.com/articles/social-equality)> can be stretched to include a particular act or condition, then public support for that act or condition is likely to be stronger than it was previously.\nBy encapsulating values which are perceived to be widely shared by the community, but which are in fact highly abstract and defined in very different ways by individuals, ideographs provide a potent persuasive tool for the political speaker.\nMcGee offers the example of [Richard Nixon](https://bliptext.com/articles/richard-nixon)'s attempt to defend his decision not to turn over documents to Congress during the [Watergate scandal](https://bliptext.com/articles/watergate-scandal) by invoking \"the principle of [confidentiality](https://bliptext.com/articles/confidentiality).\"\nRecognizing that his refusal to submit to Congress could be seen as a violation of the \"[rule of law](https://bliptext.com/articles/rule-of-law)\", Nixon pitted \"the principle of [confidentiality](https://bliptext.com/articles/confidentiality)\" against the \"[rule of law](https://bliptext.com/articles/rule-of-law),\" despite the fact that these two ideographs would, in the abstract, not likely be seen as in conflict with one another.\nNixon, in an attempt to expand the understanding of \"the principle of confidentiality\" to cover his own specific refusal to cooperate with Congress, used the abstractness of the term to his benefit, claiming that right to confidentiality was the more central term.\nWhile the term has remained mostly in this sphere of academic [rhetorical criticism](https://bliptext.com/articles/rhetorical-criticism), some [political consultants](https://bliptext.com/articles/political-consulting) and practitioners are becoming savvy to this art.\nIdeographs appear in [advertising](https://bliptext.com/articles/advertising) and [political campaigns](https://bliptext.com/articles/political-campaigns) regularly, and are crucial to helping the public understand what is really being asked of them.\nFor example, \"equality\" is a term commonly used in political discourse and rarely defined.\nIt can refer to a situation in which all people have the same opportunities, or a condition in which social resources are distributed uniformly to different individuals and groups.\nThe former is the more commonly used definition in US history, according to Condit & Lucaites, although in a socialist or left-leaning political state, the term may refer foremost to the distribution of social resources.\nCondit and Lucaites depict the racial facet of equality as the dominant meaning in an American context of political discourse, since 1865.\nAnother important ideograph used specifically by U.S. presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush after the 9/11 attacks is <[terrorism](https://bliptext.com/articles/terrorism)>.\nThe term does not have a clear or specific definition, but when applied to the context in the fear-stricken country after the devastating attacks in 2001, this term held significant weight and meaning to Americans all across the country.\nKelly Long explores Obama's discourse on the <[War on Terror](https://bliptext.com/articles/war-on-terror)> and states that \"by developing an ideological justification for the conflicts that the United States was involved in at the time, Obama remedied much of the damage done by the Bush administration\".\nObama justified the <[War on Terror](https://bliptext.com/articles/war-on-terror)> by addressing the nation and saying that in order to protect the and, we must fight against <[terrorism](https://bliptext.com/articles/terrorism)>.\nObama used this term to his advantage and made appear to be a common enemy and fighting back was the common cause.\nThis use of the ideograph unified the country creating a sense of identity for American citizens, \"defining what the nation stands for and against. The term divides those who are civilized from those who are uncivilized, those who defend economic freedom from those who would attack America’s way of life and those who support democracy from those who would disrupt it\".\nMarouf Hasian discusses how key ideographs representative of a society's commitments change over time, particularly in the name of, , or <[privacy](https://bliptext.com/articles/privacy)> epitomized in [eugenics](https://bliptext.com/articles/eugenics).\nFrom the 1900s-1930s, Americans justified the restriction of reproductive rights based on medical, social, economic, and political considerations, but were appalled when the [Nazis](https://bliptext.com/articles/nazis) used some of the same arguments in their creation of the \"perfect race\".\nWhile rhetorical critics identify these terms as ideographs, political leaders viewed each other's terms as \"[glittering generalities](https://bliptext.com/articles/glittering-generalities),\" as Lincoln first identified his opponent's words.\nIn addition to practitioners, [corporate marketing](https://bliptext.com/articles/marketing) and [political consulting](https://bliptext.com/articles/political-consulting) use key terms in this way, concentrating on the [image](https://bliptext.com/articles/image) and [branding](https://bliptext.com/articles/brand-management) of terms.\nFor example, [Frank Luntz](https://bliptext.com/articles/frank-luntz) tests audience reaction to certain words or phrases using dial technology, a mechanism which instantaneously shows moment by moment reactions to speeches or presentations.\nThis research has been extremely beneficial to his clients, as they can use ideographs as \"trigger words\" in an [advertising campaign](https://bliptext.com/articles/advertising-campaign).\n\n# Importance\nThere are three primary ways in which the concept of the ideograph is important to rhetorical critics.\nFirst, it suggests a way of studying political ideology using concrete instances of language use.\nBy showing how looking at specific uses of key words and phrases in political language reveal underlying ideological commitments, McGee offers a concrete method for understanding the highly abstract concept of ideology.\nSecond, the definition of the ideograph makes clear that the [rhetorical study](https://bliptext.com/articles/rhetoric) of a term is different from a legal, historical, or etymological study of a term.\nUnlike other perspectives that focus on how a term has changed over time, a rhetorical study of a term focuses on the forces involved in the creation of these meanings.\nIn short, a rhetorical study of a term is the study of the use of that term in practice.\nThis leads to a third key aspect of what the concept of the ideograph offers to rhetorical critics.\nMcGee notes that the study of a term must not, and should not, be limited to its use in \"formal discourse.\"\nInstead, the critic is much more likely to gain a better understanding of an ideograph by looking at how it is used and depicted in movies, plays, and songs, as well as how it is presented in educational texts aimed at children.\nThis moves the study of ideology beyond the limits of social philosophy or even political discourse as traditionally conceived (i.e., \"great speeches by great men\").\n\n# Cultural variability\n\"An ideograph is a culturally biased, abstract word or phrase drawn from ordinary language, which serves a constitutional value for a historically situated collectivity.\"\nThere exists a culturally-specific understanding in each culture about what an ideograph means.\nIdeographs in rhetoric are culturally specific but recur inter-culturally; meaning the understanding of one ideograph can be used and interpreted differently across cultures.\nThe idea may be different from culture to culture, but this doesn't mean some aspects won't be the same in one or more cultures.\nFor example, the concept of [femininity](https://bliptext.com/articles/femininity) that exists cross-culturally to define ideas about women, yet one can expect these ideas to vary from culture to culture.\n\n# Critical use\nAt the end of his essay defining the ideograph, McGee says that\n“A complete description of an ideology.\n. . will consist of (1) the isolation of a society’s ideographs, (2) the exposure and analysis of the [diachronic](https://bliptext.com/articles/[synchronic](https://bliptext.com/articles/synchronic-analysis)-analysis) structure of every ideography, and (3) characterization of [synchronic](https://bliptext.com/articles/synchronic-analysis) relationships among all the ideographs in a particular context.”\nSuch an exhaustive study of any ideology has yet to materialize, but many scholars have made use of the ideograph as a tool of understanding both specific [rhetorical situations](https://bliptext.com/articles/rhetorical-situations) as well as a broader scope of ideological history.\nAs a teacher, McGee himself made use of the ideograph as a tool for structuring the study of the rise of liberalism in British public address, focusing on ideographs such as <[property](https://bliptext.com/articles/property)>, <[patriarchy](https://bliptext.com/articles/patriarchy)>, <[religion](https://bliptext.com/articles/religion)>, <[liberty](https://bliptext.com/articles/liberty)>.\nOther scholars have made a study of specific uses of ideographs such as <[family values](https://bliptext.com/articles/family-values)> and <[equality](https://bliptext.com/articles/egalitarianism)>.\nSome critics have gone beyond the idea that an ideograph must be a verbal symbol and have expanded the notion to include [photographs](https://bliptext.com/articles/photographs).\nand objects represented in [mass media](https://bliptext.com/articles/mass-media).","current_revision":null,"created_by":"kACnuQmH5k9Nr5VNVEpVeg7XpvUmMctD","created_at":"2025-01-25T18:39:33.208Z","updated_at":"2025-01-25T18:39:33.208Z","search_vector":"'ideograph':1 'rhetor':2","search_content":" \n \n\n# \nAn **ideograph** or **virtue word** is a word frequently used in political discourse that uses an abstract concept to develop support for political positions.\nSuch words are usually terms that do not have a clear definition but are used to give the impression of a clear meaning.\nAn ideograph in rhetoric often exists as a building block or simply one term or short phrase that summarizes the orientation or attitude of an ideology.\nSuch examples notably include , , and .\nRhetorical critics use chevrons or angle brackets (<>) to mark off ideographs.\nThe term ideograph was coined by rhetorical scholar and critic [Michael Calvin McGee](https://bliptext.com/articles/michael-calvin-mcgee) (1980) describing the use of particular words and phrases as political language in a way that captures (as well as creates or reinforces) particular ideological positions.\nMcGee sees the ideograph as a way of understanding of how specific, concrete instances of political discourse relate to the more abstract idea of political ideology.\nRobertson defines ideographs as \"political slogans or labels that encapsulate ideology in political discourse.\"\nMeanwhile, [Celeste Condit](https://bliptext.com/articles/celeste-condit) and [John Lucaites](https://bliptext.com/articles/john-lucaites), influenced by McGee, explain, \"Ideographs represent in condensed form the normative, collective commitments of the members of a public, and they typically appear in public argumentation as the necessary motivations or justifications for action performed in the name of the public.\"\nIdeographs are common in [advertising](https://bliptext.com/articles/advertising) and political discourse.\n\n# Definition\nMcGee uses the term in his seminal article \"The 'Ideograph': A Link Between Rhetoric and Ideology\" which appeared in the [Quarterly Journal of Speech](https://bliptext.com/articles/quarterly-journal-of-speech) in 1980.\nHe begins his essay by defining the practice of [ideology](https://bliptext.com/articles/ideology) as practice of political language in specific contexts—actual discursive acts by individual speakers and writers.\nThe question this raises is how does this practice of [ideology](https://bliptext.com/articles/ideology) create social control.\nMcGee's answer to this is to say that \"political language which manifests ideology seems characterized by slogans, a vocabulary of 'ideographs' easily mistaken for the technical terminology of [political philosophy](https://bliptext.com/articles/political-philosophy).\"\nHe goes on to offer his definition of \"ideograph\": \"an ideograph is an ordinary-language term found in political discourse. It is a high order abstraction representing commitment to a particular but equivocal and ill-defined normative goal.\"\nAn ideograph, then, is not just any particular word or phrase used in political discourse, but one of a particular subset of terms that are often invoked in political discourse but which does not have a clear, univocal definition.\nDespite this, in their use, ideographs are often invoked precisely to give the sense of a clearly understood and shared meaning.\nThis potency makes them the primary tools for shaping public decisions.\nIt is in this role as the [vocabulary](https://bliptext.com/articles/vocabulary) for public values and decision-making that they are linked to ideology.\n\n# Examples\nThere is no absolute litmus test for what terms are or are not ideographs.\nRather, this is a judgment that must be made through the study of specific examples of discourse.\nHowever, McGee (and others who have followed him) have identified several examples of ideographs or virtue words in Western liberal political discourse, such as , , , , and .\nIn each case, the term does not have a specific [referent](https://bliptext.com/articles/referent).\nRather, each term refers to an [abstraction](https://bliptext.com/articles/abstraction) which may have many different meanings depending on its [context](https://bliptext.com/articles/context-language-use).\nIt is in their mutability between circumstances that give the terms such rhetorical power.\nIf the definition of a term such as can be stretched to include a particular act or condition, then public support for that act or condition is likely to be stronger than it was previously.\nBy encapsulating values which are perceived to be widely shared by the community, but which are in fact highly abstract and defined in very different ways by individuals, ideographs provide a potent persuasive tool for the political speaker.\nMcGee offers the example of [Richard Nixon](https://bliptext.com/articles/richard-nixon)'s attempt to defend his decision not to turn over documents to Congress during the [Watergate scandal](https://bliptext.com/articles/watergate-scandal) by invoking \"the principle of [confidentiality](https://bliptext.com/articles/confidentiality).\"\nRecognizing that his refusal to submit to Congress could be seen as a violation of the \"[[rule of law](https://bliptext.com/articles/rule-of-law)](https://bliptext.com/articles/rule-of-law)\", Nixon pitted \"the principle of [confidentiality](https://bliptext.com/articles/confidentiality)\" against the \"[[rule of law](https://bliptext.com/articles/rule-of-law)](https://bliptext.com/articles/rule-of-law),\" despite the fact that these two ideographs would, in the abstract, not likely be seen as in conflict with one another.\nNixon, in an attempt to expand the understanding of \"the principle of confidentiality\" to cover his own specific refusal to cooperate with Congress, used the abstractness of the term to his benefit, claiming that right to confidentiality was the more central term.\nWhile the term has remained mostly in this sphere of academic [rhetorical criticism](https://bliptext.com/articles/rhetorical-criticism), some [political consultants](https://bliptext.com/articles/political-consulting) and practitioners are becoming savvy to this art.\nIdeographs appear in [advertising](https://bliptext.com/articles/advertising) and [political campaigns](https://bliptext.com/articles/political-campaigns) regularly, and are crucial to helping the public understand what is really being asked of them.\nFor example, \"equality\" is a term commonly used in political discourse and rarely defined.\nIt can refer to a situation in which all people have the same opportunities, or a condition in which social resources are distributed uniformly to different individuals and groups.\nThe former is the more commonly used definition in US history, according to Condit & Lucaites, although in a socialist or left-leaning political state, the term may refer foremost to the distribution of social resources.\nCondit and Lucaites depict the racial facet of equality as the dominant meaning in an American context of political discourse, since 1865.\nAnother important ideograph used specifically by U.S. presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush after the 9/11 attacks is .\nThe term does not have a clear or specific definition, but when applied to the context in the fear-stricken country after the devastating attacks in 2001, this term held significant weight and meaning to Americans all across the country.\nKelly Long explores Obama's discourse on the and states that \"by developing an ideological justification for the conflicts that the United States was involved in at the time, Obama remedied much of the damage done by the Bush administration\".\nObama justified the by addressing the nation and saying that in order to protect the and, we must fight against .\nObama used this term to his advantage and made appear to be a common enemy and fighting back was the common cause.\nThis use of the ideograph unified the country creating a sense of identity for American citizens, \"defining what the nation stands for and against. The term divides those who are civilized from those who are uncivilized, those who defend economic freedom from those who would attack America’s way of life and those who support democracy from those who would disrupt it\".\nMarouf Hasian discusses how key ideographs representative of a society's commitments change over time, particularly in the name of, , or epitomized in [eugenics](https://bliptext.com/articles/eugenics).\nFrom the 1900s-1930s, Americans justified the restriction of reproductive rights based on medical, social, economic, and political considerations, but were appalled when the [Nazis](https://bliptext.com/articles/nazis) used some of the same arguments in their creation of the \"perfect race\".\nWhile rhetorical critics identify these terms as ideographs, political leaders viewed each other's terms as \"[glittering generalities](https://bliptext.com/articles/glittering-generalities),\" as Lincoln first identified his opponent's words.\nIn addition to practitioners, [corporate marketing](https://bliptext.com/articles/marketing) and [political consulting](https://bliptext.com/articles/political-consulting) use key terms in this way, concentrating on the [image](https://bliptext.com/articles/image) and [branding](https://bliptext.com/articles/brand-management) of terms.\nFor example, [Frank Luntz](https://bliptext.com/articles/frank-luntz) tests audience reaction to certain words or phrases using dial technology, a mechanism which instantaneously shows moment by moment reactions to speeches or presentations.\nThis research has been extremely beneficial to his clients, as they can use ideographs as \"trigger words\" in an [advertising campaign](https://bliptext.com/articles/advertising-campaign).\n\n# Importance\nThere are three primary ways in which the concept of the ideograph is important to rhetorical critics.\nFirst, it suggests a way of studying political ideology using concrete instances of language use.\nBy showing how looking at specific uses of key words and phrases in political language reveal underlying ideological commitments, McGee offers a concrete method for understanding the highly abstract concept of ideology.\nSecond, the definition of the ideograph makes clear that the [rhetorical study](https://bliptext.com/articles/rhetoric) of a term is different from a legal, historical, or etymological study of a term.\nUnlike other perspectives that focus on how a term has changed over time, a rhetorical study of a term focuses on the forces involved in the creation of these meanings.\nIn short, a rhetorical study of a term is the study of the use of that term in practice.\nThis leads to a third key aspect of what the concept of the ideograph offers to rhetorical critics.\nMcGee notes that the study of a term must not, and should not, be limited to its use in \"formal discourse.\"\nInstead, the critic is much more likely to gain a better understanding of an ideograph by looking at how it is used and depicted in movies, plays, and songs, as well as how it is presented in educational texts aimed at children.\nThis moves the study of ideology beyond the limits of social philosophy or even political discourse as traditionally conceived (i.e., \"great speeches by great men\").\n\n# Cultural variability\n\"An ideograph is a culturally biased, abstract word or phrase drawn from ordinary language, which serves a constitutional value for a historically situated collectivity.\"\nThere exists a culturally-specific understanding in each culture about what an ideograph means.\nIdeographs in rhetoric are culturally specific but recur inter-culturally; meaning the understanding of one ideograph can be used and interpreted differently across cultures.\nThe idea may be different from culture to culture, but this doesn't mean some aspects won't be the same in one or more cultures.\nFor example, the concept of [femininity](https://bliptext.com/articles/femininity) that exists cross-culturally to define ideas about women, yet one can expect these ideas to vary from culture to culture.\n\n# Critical use\nAt the end of his essay defining the ideograph, McGee says that\n“A complete description of an ideology.\n. . will consist of (1) the isolation of a society’s ideographs, (2) the exposure and analysis of the [diachronic](https://bliptext.com/articles/[synchronic](https://bliptext.com/articles/synchronic-analysis)-analysis) structure of every ideography, and (3) characterization of [synchronic](https://bliptext.com/articles/synchronic-analysis) relationships among all the ideographs in a particular context.”\nSuch an exhaustive study of any ideology has yet to materialize, but many scholars have made use of the ideograph as a tool of understanding both specific [rhetorical situations](https://bliptext.com/articles/rhetorical-situations) as well as a broader scope of ideological history.\nAs a teacher, McGee himself made use of the ideograph as a tool for structuring the study of the rise of liberalism in British public address, focusing on ideographs such as , , , .\nOther scholars have made a study of specific uses of ideographs such as and .\nSome critics have gone beyond the idea that an ideograph must be a verbal symbol and have expanded the notion to include [photographs](https://bliptext.com/articles/photographs).\nand objects represented in [mass media](https://bliptext.com/articles/mass-media).","revisionCount":0},"hasMore":false,"nextCursor":null}

History