Wander (1983), "The Ideological Turn in Modern Criticism"

1. Wichelns' concept of public address was White, male, and class-privileged.

Wichelns' "The Literary Criticism of Oratory" legitimated public address, but in an ideologically limiting way. Wander (1983) notes that rhetoric originally limited public address to two-party politics. Early rhetoric therefore ignored women, people of color, and other classes restricted from government-sanctioned address.

2. Neo-aristotelians used Burke only as a method.

Burke legitimated rhetoric by linking it to other disciplines, but it was used as a method rather than a tool for ideological criticism. Neo-aristotelians strove for objectivity. As Wander (1983) argues, this necessarily made the criticism a description of the speaker's words, centering the speaker and linking the critic to the speaker's perspective.

3. Ideological criticism looks for historically situated power.

A. Ideological criticism should look for "emancipatory moments" in public discourse.

B. Wander (1983) suggests that rhetoric should turn to examine "powerful vested interests" and how these interests benefit from particular uses of discourse in policy development. The critic should evaluate destructive powers behind policies like war and environmental destruction and identify alternatives.

C. For Wander (1983), ideological criticism should acknowledge crises and historically situate "good" and "right."