A model of rigid macromolecules dissolved at low concentration in a dielectric Newtonian fluid and subjected to shear and electric fields is developed. Macro-molecules are taken to be rigid spheroids of arbitrary aspect ratio and with both permanent and induced dipole moments. Specific calculations are reported for the steady-state birefringence, extinction angle, and rheological material functions. The procedure developed here is general, so that it may be applied both to transient properties and to strong field problems since terms of higher order in the shear and electric fields may be calculated readily.