Key insights from
Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes
Audio available
8 minute read
Published Jan 12, 1973
What you'll learn
This classic study of propaganda (first published in 1965) has only grown more pertinent and frightening with age. Unlike other works that approach propaganda from a strictly psychological perspective, social theorist Jacques Ellul approaches the topic more sociologically, with an appreciation for the interrelated systems that can cripple our thinking and manipulate our actions.
Key insights
- • What you'll learn
- 1 Amidst the confusion surrounding the term “propaganda,” it’s more helpful to identify general characteristics than precisely define it.
- 2 Propaganda helps a regime reduce the social friction that technological change creates.
- 3 For propaganda to be effective, it must keep individuals connected to the masses and constantly bombard them with all available media.
- 4 Propaganda needs to cultivate not just orthodoxy but orthopraxy.
- 5 The modern state cannot survive without propaganda.
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