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Title: Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes by Jacques Ellul ISBN: 0394718747 Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks Pub. Date: June, 1973 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.75
Rating: 5
Summary: Wow, this book is amazing...
Comment: I don't think I could have asked for a more precise and in-depth look at this topic. Each chapter went more and more into deep discussion about how propaganda is used, how it evolved, and how it is affecting the freedom of our own minds in the modern world. The book talks a lot about psychology itself, especially of groups and nations and how propaganda affects the lone, isolated individual most of all.
A few of the examples that Ellul uses here and there are rather "out of date" and very hard to follow if you don't have some foreknowledge about what event he may be discussing. This does not take away from the whole of the book however, events are presented only to show an example of a point, and only a few times are they hard to follow. This book has many examples, but the focus here is on the psychological analysis and of it and how propaganda works on people. If you want to just examples, read Chomsky's "Propaganda and the Public Mind," it is all examples with little analysis and I thought this book had more what I wanted.
Another thing to note, this book is very "full" there are an incredible amount of points made in each section. I don't think I have ever spent quite this amount of time making notes in and underlining things in a 313 page book. Those of you that like to read a book in a few hours or even a few days will probably have trouble doing that here, at least if you want to understand it on the level that I did.
Everyone needs to read this, it is a real eye opener in our day and time. When the other reviewers say it is mind blowing they are correct. I have read a few things of this nature in the past so it was not as much to me, but for a person new to this topic who thinks propaganda always comes from "the bad guy" or "the other guys," this would be a good introduction for them. I think if everyone read and understood this our society would probably shut down completely...
Rating: 4
Summary: A Chilling Study
Comment: Published in 1965, this book is a significant, if creepy study of that oft-misunderstood concept of propaganda. The references are unfortunately dated, but the insights are valuable, especially given how much propaganda is ignored in American society, particularly. It's not an easy read by any means, mostly because he throws so much at you at once you're sort of left punch-drunk. He lays it all out forthrightly.
The most terrible revelation he offers is when he points out that the most informed individuals (in the sense of consuming the most media) are the most propagandized (but unaware of being so). This is why this book doesn't get more play -- it would put the Massive Media and the "public relations" (aka, propaganda industry) out of business if people understood their real social role.
The book is bleak, and leaves you reeling. But it does provide intellectual ammunition -- namely, critical thinking -- as a hopeful vaccination from propaganda, except for Ellul's statement that people who think propaganda doesn't affect them tend to be propagandized....
I guess the safest thing you can do is assume you are a victim of propaganda, and then deal with it by sorting out what opinions are genuinely yours, and what are the result of "conventional wisdom" and "common sense". The alternative is to pretend you're somehow immune.
Rating: 5
Summary: An Important Book
Comment: Ellul takes a look at propaganda in its fullest and widest sense. Instead of trying to tinker with interesting but narrow experiments in mind manipulation, Ellul takes a view of propaganda from where it actually exists and springs forth in society and in history. He has a holistic theory of the workings and effects of the phenomenon.
And this is as it should be. After all, the propagandist is operating in full force right now, as he was in the 1960's when the book was written, and he is not using controlled labs to do it. He is doing it on a mass scale in real society and achieving results. Therefore a serious attempt to understand propaganda "in its actual place" and "as it is used" is valuable and enlightening. Ellul is not interested in "building" a technique for propaganda from the ground up, or in "proving" that it is possible. This much has already been done as evidenced by plain facts!! He is acknowledging what has already been achieved and is looking at these systems from many angles to determine their nature and tease out an understanding so we can know more what we are facing.
You will find many less than intuitive but fascinating notions in the book.
For instance: Education increases the ingestion of propaganda. In fact it is a prerequisite. It is no wonder Saddam Hussein worked to increase literacy in Iraq -- all the better to try to propagandize the people with words and mold them into a cohesive whole. Another idea: Democracies like the U.S. are very vulnerable to propaganda. In fact, this form of government makes propaganda all the more necessary, since you must work on people's minds more than their bodies (it is not a dictatorship.) People in democracies should expect to be heavily and relentlessly propagandized.
These are just a few samples of the many fascinating (and horrifying) ideas and insights in this volume.
One thing to note: Jacques Ellul is also a theologian and Christian, and he doesn't make much of a secret of that in his book or his other writings. I am not a Christian myself (I'm an atheist), but I frankly think Ellul's Christianity not only DOESN'T cloud Ellul's sharp powers of logic and observation, but it does him a bit of service in his examination of propaganda and its harmful effects on the human being. He makes few bones about the idea that propaganda has a tendency to separate man from himself and his true spirituality and/or personality. This he relates among the other harmful effects on the world at large in the form of exploitation and war.
All I can say is read this book: You'll never look at things the same way afterwards.
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Title: Age of Propaganda: The Everyday Use and Abuse of Persuasion by Anthony R. Pratkanis, Elliot Aronson ISBN: 0716731088 Publisher: W H Freeman & Co Pub. Date: March, 2001 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: The Technological Society by Jacques Ellul ISBN: 0394703901 Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks Pub. Date: October, 1967 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: Battle for the Mind: A Physiology of Conversion and Brainwashing by William Sargant ISBN: 1883536065 Publisher: Malor Books Pub. Date: October, 1997 List Price(USD): $19.00 |
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Title: The Manipulated Mind: Brainwashing, Conditioning and Indoctrination by Denise Winn ISBN: 1883536227 Publisher: I S H K Book Service Pub. Date: January, 2000 List Price(USD): $19.00 |
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Title: Media Control: The Spectacular Achievements of Propaganda (Open Media Series) by Noam Chomsky ISBN: 1583225366 Publisher: Seven Stories Press Pub. Date: December, 2002 List Price(USD): $8.95 |
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