Blog Post #9

The three constituents of Bitzer's rhetorical situation are exigence, audience, and constraints.

In Bitzer's opinion, a work is considered rhetorical because it is a response to a situation. The "situation which generates rhetorical discourse" (written or spoken communication) depends entirely on the "context of the situation". Bitzer emphasizes that rhetorical discourse in a specific situation "functions to produce action or change in the world; it performs some task... with the aim of the pursuit". Overall, the rhetorical situation is what controls the response the rhetor will receive.

The first constituent of Bitzer's rhetorical situation is exigence, or a defect/obstacle that can be modified or assisted by discourse. In fact, the main reason a rhetor choses to speak or write has to do with the exigence and the chance that his/her words will cause change. The exigence, as Bitzer states, functions as the primary "organizing principle" of a rhetorical situation. Air pollution is a perfect example of rhetorical exigence because it is a clear obstacle in society that has the ability to be modified. If people took more initiative to cause change and fix air pollution there would be a chance that society could fix the issue.

The second constituent of Bitzer's rhetorical situation is audience. The significance with the audience Bitzer mentions is that it must be a group of people that are capable of being influenced by the rhetor's discourse and are also capable of mediating change. For example, if a rhetor were to discuss political issues, a specific audience of mainly politicians would be included in the rhetorical situation. Politicians, as opposed to an audience of young teenagers, would be more capable of being impacted by the discourse and inducing actual change regarding the problems being discussed by the rhetor.

The third and final constituent of Bitzer's rhetorical situation is constraints. Constraints are the aspects of the situation that have the ability to constrain a decision and an action for change. Specifically, "people, events, objects, and relations to the situation" will all have an impact on the rhetorical situation. In accordance with these characteristics of constraints are "personal beliefs, attitudes, facts, images, traditions, etc.". For example, if a rhetor gave a speech on the legalization of marijuana a constraint would be relative if an audience member had a personal belief that marijuana should remain illegal. Perhaps the audience member had a relative that had been negatively affected by marijuana's use, resulting in his/her strong negative opinion of the drug. Rhetors must pay close attention to possible constraints in the rhetorical situations, as constraints tend to weaken or challenge the rhetor's discourse.