Freakonomics
Freakonomics, Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner
"(Feldman wondered if perhaps the executives cheated out of an overdeveloped sense of entitlement.What he didn't consider is that perhaps cheating was how they got to be executives.)... If morality represents the way we would like the world to work and economics represents how it actually does work, then the story of Feldman's bagel business lies at the very intersection of morality and economics"(46)Levitt, and Dubner.
Levitt implements his first rhetorical device, diction, through the use of the phrase "overdeveloped sense of entitlement", this shows that the belief of the author, was that they were stealing simply because they felt that their higher social status made it ok. However the connotation that comes with the word "entitlement" under the circumstances it is used makes me think of more of a snobby stereotypical movie rich persona, such that in a typical celebrity matter they feel that they are in fact above the law.The second thing he does is use italics to emphasize the word "be", the purpose of emphasizing be in this case is to show the contrasting in between his ideas, and of the Feldman, the business man. It also seems to shine an eerie light on to the fact that perhaps, the cheating to get ahead in the corporate ladder was the same principle they applied to stealing the bagels, it was ok, as long as they didn't get caught. Levitt's final rhetorical device was a metaphor when he says " If morality represents the way we would like the world to work and economics represents how it actually does work, then the story of Feldman's bagel business lies at the very intersection ofmorality and economics".This metaphorically shows that Feldman's business was an intersection of statistical predictions and real life, which basically says his business was running as close to perfect as it possibly could be.
One topic that keeps coming up within Freakonomics is the topic of human nature in relation to cheating.
"(Feldman wondered if perhaps the executives cheated out of an overdeveloped sense of entitlement.What he didn't consider is that perhaps cheating was how they got to be executives.)... If morality represents the way we would like the world to work and economics represents how it actually does work, then the story of Feldman's bagel business lies at the very intersection of morality and economics"(46)Levitt, and Dubner.
Levitt implements his first rhetorical device, diction, through the use of the phrase "overdeveloped sense of entitlement", this shows that the belief of the author, was that they were stealing simply because they felt that their higher social status made it ok. However the connotation that comes with the word "entitlement" under the circumstances it is used makes me think of more of a snobby stereotypical movie rich persona, such that in a typical celebrity matter they feel that they are in fact above the law.The second thing he does is use italics to emphasize the word "be", the purpose of emphasizing be in this case is to show the contrasting in between his ideas, and of the Feldman, the business man. It also seems to shine an eerie light on to the fact that perhaps, the cheating to get ahead in the corporate ladder was the same principle they applied to stealing the bagels, it was ok, as long as they didn't get caught. Levitt's final rhetorical device was a metaphor when he says " If morality represents the way we would like the world to work and economics represents how it actually does work, then the story of Feldman's bagel business lies at the very intersection ofmorality and economics".This metaphorically shows that Feldman's business was an intersection of statistical predictions and real life, which basically says his business was running as close to perfect as it possibly could be.
One topic that keeps coming up within Freakonomics is the topic of human nature in relation to cheating.