[lit-ideas] Re: Edward Bernays and Goebbels
- From: "John McCreery" <john.mccreery@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 25 Aug 2008 11:33:05 +0900
Bernays is certainly a pivotal figure. What Ewen does, however, is provide
the broader context and the sources of the ideas that Bernays put to work,
with a strong focus on crowd psychology. His account is fascinating.
From wikipedia
*Crowd psychology*, or *social facilitation theory*, is a branch of social
psychology <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_psychology>. Ordinary people
can typically gain direct power by acting collectively. Historically,
because large groups of
people<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_(sociology)> have
been able to bring about dramatic and sudden social change in a manner that
bypasses established due process <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Due_process>,
they have also provoked controversy. Social scientists have developed
several different theories for explaining
crowd<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowd> psychology,
and the ways in which thepsychology<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychology> of
the crowd differs significantly from the psychology of those individuals
within it. Carl Jung <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Jung> coined the
notion of the Collective
unconscious<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_unconscious>.
Other major thinkers of crowd psychology include Gustave Le
Bon<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustave_Le_Bon>
, Wilfred Trotter <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilfred_Trotter>,Gabriel
Tarde <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel_Tarde>, Sigmund
Freud<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigmund_Freud>
and Elias Canetti <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elias_Canetti>.
John
On Mon, Aug 25, 2008 at 11:25 AM, Andy <mimi.erva@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> No doubt there were others, but Bernays is I think pretty much credited
> with being the mover and shaker of the industry. We're the ravenous
> brainless maws that we are today because of Bernays. Ironically, if you
> read the review, Bernays was the PR force behind Freud's reputation, not to
> mention the horrific conflicts in Central America. He was quite the
> dangerous man. It's strange how so few people can have such huge
> consequences.
>
>
> --- On *Mon, 8/25/08, John McCreery <john.mccreery@xxxxxxxxx>* wrote:
>
> From: John McCreery <john.mccreery@xxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Edward Bernays and Goebbels
> To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Date: Monday, August 25, 2008, 2:12 AM
>
>
> You might want to have a look at SPIN: The history of PR by Steward Ewen,
> a marvelous account of how ideas developed by social scientists were
> absorbed and applied by the emerging PR industry.
> John
>
> On Mon, Aug 25, 2008 at 10:50 AM, Andy <mimi.erva@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>> I did a quick search for Ed Bernays Goebbels. Here's a quotation from
>> a short book review of "The Father of Spin: Edward L. Bernays and The Birth
>> of PR". Below are excerpts:
>>
>> http://www.prwatch.org/prwissues/1999Q2/bernays.html
>>
>> "The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and
>> opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society,"
>> Bernays argued. "Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society
>> constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our
>> country. . . . In almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere
>> of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we
>> are dominated by the relatively small number of persons . . . who understand
>> the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull
>> the wires which control the public mind."
>>
>> [...]
>>
>> "During Bernays' lifetime and since, propaganda has usually had dirty
>> connotations, loaded and identified with the evils of Nazi PR genius Joseph
>> Goebbels, or the oafish efforts of the Soviet Communists. In his memoirs,
>> Bernays wrote that he was "shocked" to discover that Goebbels kept copies of
>> Bernays' writings in his own personal library, and that his theories were
>> therefore helping to "engineer" the rise of the Third Reich."
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> John McCreery
> The Word Works, Ltd., Yokohama, JAPAN
> Tel. +81-45-314-9324
> http://www.wordworks.jp/
>
>
>
--
John McCreery
The Word Works, Ltd., Yokohama, JAPAN
Tel. +81-45-314-9324
http://www.wordworks.jp/
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