Freudian Influence Upon Edward Berney's Idea of Propaganda
Public Relations Technique (Fall 2000) Course Project 12/15/2000 Instructor: Dr. Calvin Troup
Freudian Influences upon Edward Bernays’ idea of Propaganda
Fr. Augustine Tae Woo Jung 12/13/00
Introduction
The term propaganda has had negative connotations. People are not only suspicious and skeptical about the word or the activities that bears the name, but they are cynical about them. This arises an interesting question: why this negative attitude and the cynicism, when we are in the midst of the propaganda flood? Edward L. Bernays was one of the most decisive proponents of propaganda. His book with the word as the title was actually written as propaganda for propaganda. It could even be said that he was the responsible person for the emergence of propaganda as a modern profession. As he himself admits, he builds up his argument upon sociology and psychology, in order for his profession to be acceptable as a scientific application. Could he answer for the question asked above, or argue against it, with all his favorable arguments to propaganda and the scientific grounds that back up the arguments? Have the scientific grounds themselves, as he calls it as principles of social psychology, some clue for the connotations inherently?
In this essay I would like to investigate the connection between Bernays’ concept of and defense for propaganda and the Freudian principles of psychology, in terms of how they commonly see human nature. Bernays was, being a cousin of Sigmund Freud himself, obviously influenced by his uncle. He even references to his uncle’s principles here and there, as the underlying foundations for his proposal of propaganda and the applications. I would like to see whether his assumptions were derived from the Freudian principles, and if so, how the assumptions based on psychological principles of human nature
Freudian Influences upon Edward Bernays’ idea of Propaganda
Fr. Augustine Tae Woo Jung 12/13/00
Introduction
The term propaganda has had negative connotations. People are not only suspicious and skeptical about the word or the activities that bears the name, but they are cynical about them. This arises an interesting question: why this negative attitude and the cynicism, when we are in the midst of the propaganda flood? Edward L. Bernays was one of the most decisive proponents of propaganda. His book with the word as the title was actually written as propaganda for propaganda. It could even be said that he was the responsible person for the emergence of propaganda as a modern profession. As he himself admits, he builds up his argument upon sociology and psychology, in order for his profession to be acceptable as a scientific application. Could he answer for the question asked above, or argue against it, with all his favorable arguments to propaganda and the scientific grounds that back up the arguments? Have the scientific grounds themselves, as he calls it as principles of social psychology, some clue for the connotations inherently?
In this essay I would like to investigate the connection between Bernays’ concept of and defense for propaganda and the Freudian principles of psychology, in terms of how they commonly see human nature. Bernays was, being a cousin of Sigmund Freud himself, obviously influenced by his uncle. He even references to his uncle’s principles here and there, as the underlying foundations for his proposal of propaganda and the applications. I would like to see whether his assumptions were derived from the Freudian principles, and if so, how the assumptions based on psychological principles of human nature