Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 303.375
EAN: 9780970312594
ISBN: 0970312598
Label: Ig Publishing
Manufacturer: Ig Publishing
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 175
Packaged Height: 40 hundredths-inches
Packaged Length: 770 hundredths-inches
Packaged Weight: 30 hundredths-pounds
Packaged Width: 500 hundredths-inches
Publication Date: 2004-09-01
Publisher: Ig Publishing
Studio: Ig Publishing
Product Description:
"Bernays' honest and practical manual provides much insight into some of the most powerful and influential institutions of contemporary industrial state capitalist democracies."-Noam Chomsky "The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country."-Edward Bernays, Propaganda A seminal and controversial figure in the history of political thought and public relations, Edward Bernays (18911995), pioneered the scientific technique of shaping and manipulating public opinion, which he famously dubbed "engineering of consent." During World War I, he was an integral part of the U.S. Committee on Public Information (CPI), a powerful propaganda apparatus that was mobilized to package, advertise and sell the war to the American people as one that would "Make the World Safe for Democracy." The CPI would become the blueprint in which marketing strategies for future wars would be based upon. Bernays applied the techniques he had learned in the CPI and, incorporating some of the ideas of Walter Lipmann, became an outspoken proponent of propaganda as a tool for democratic and corporate manipulation of the population. His 1928 bombshell Propaganda lays out his eerily prescient vision for using propaganda to regiment the collective mind in a variety of areas, including government, politics, art, science and education. To read this book today is to frightfully comprehend what our contemporary institutions of government and business have become in regards to organized manipulation of the masses. This is the first reprint of Propaganda in over 30 years and features an introduction by Mark Crispin Miller, author of The Bush Dyslexicon: Observations on a National Disorder.
Customer Reviews:
1 of 1 customers found the following review helpful:
 Manipulation of the Masses, 2008-07-15
"The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country."
And we're off and running through the world of Propaganda, the how-to manual for the manufacture of consent by Edward Bernays. Since American voters were unable to think for themselves, the nephew of Sigmund Freud asserted, political parties were necessary to narrow down choices to a handful of candidates.
Small wonder the Founders were wary of a mass democracy and the sways of public opinion. "An informed citizenry can be trusted with its government." Thomas Jefferson. "A well-instructed people alone can be permanently a free people." James Madison.
In his excellent introduction, Mark Crispin Miller details how propaganda was used to mold support for America's entry into WW1. Once the war was over, the public wised up to the ruse and angrily repudiated the Wilson administration. Propaganda was a dirty word throughout the 20's and 30's.
Regrettably, our modern day campaigns have become a testament to Bernays's expertise. Talking heads on television yak on about a candidate's charisma, wardrobe, and "thrilling life story." The marketplace of ideas has given way to fundraisers, photo-ops and two-bit slogans. Revisionist history has transformed Woodrow Wilson from schmuck to hero while voters blindly follow The Party like sheep.
Lessons unlearned are lessons lost.
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