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The Division of Labor by Durkheim
This theory from Durkheim explains that there is a solidarity that happens within all of society through the divisions of labor. Example; a farmer makes the food, a truck driver transports the food, and a market sells the food. One cannot survive with the other. Durkheim may believe that propaganda can be an anomie to the solidarity of society. And that propaganda directly effects the collective consciousness, since propaganda may appeal to feelings. -
The Rules of Sociological Method by Durkheim
"If an individual tries to pit himself against one of these collective manifestations, the sentiments that he is rejecting will be turned against him." (pg. 53 Bernays What is Social Fact?) This idea that Bernays brings up shows the consequences of an individual going against the collective manifestations. Propaganda is used to either directly or indirectly highlight what the assumed majority believes is the collective manifestation. -
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The Great War
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The Thoery of Political Propaganda by Laswell
"Propaganda is the management of collective attitudes by the manipulation of significant symbols." (pg.627 Lasswell) Lasswell pretty much takes the idea of collective manifestations and consciousness that Durkheim proposes and shows how propaganda interacts with these ideas. Lasswell and Bernays may disagree with the use of propaganda, where Lasswell sees it as a negative and Bernays sees it as a positive impact on society. -
Propaganda by Bernays (The Psychology of Public Relations)
Bernays is not the first person to coin the term Propaganda, but definitely is an important figure when dealing with propaganda and public relations. "This is the main manual of the public relations industry" (-Noam Chomsky on Bernays from "What Makes Mainstream Media Mainstream.")
Bernays comes up with the New Salesman theory. "The modern propagandist therefore sets to work to create circumstances which will modify that custom." (Bernays pg.4) The custom being the group norm. -
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The Great Depression
The Great Depression was a time where the United States and many other countries of the world suffered from an economic slump. This time presented an opportunity for many different types of propaganda to rise, whether good or bad. One example is the Woman's rights movement gaining traction. -
Hypodermic Theory 1930s and 1940s
This theory states that the audience of a propaganda directly accepts the information presented by the propaganda. This theory fueled fear in the threat of communism throughout the government of the United States due to the ongoing Cold War. The threat of propaganda was so high that media entertainment such as radio and movies were under surveillance. Also panic was a factor as seen in the example of H.G. Wells The War of the Worlds radio broadcast. -
The Payne Fund Studies by Petersen
mass media studies may have started using circular reasoning in a way where those studying effects on media created the effects and assumed that these effects were true.
Propaganda and the hypodermic needle theory is a good example of this. -
The War of the Worlds by Wells
A radio broadcast that incited widespread panic across America. This show was referenced and studied by Hadley Cantril who earlier was studying with Allport on the psychology of radio. Radio plays an important part in propaganda history, being a tool used as communication tool from one to many, which brings a threat of the hypodermic needle theory. -
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World War 2
Like in Davison's example this war was filled with propaganda that may or may not have purposely used the third-person effect. The fear of propaganda's influence on the American people rose during this time, and immediately after the War was over the Cold War started, which brought an era of fear. -
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First and Second Cold War
The Cold War is probably one of the best examples of propaganda that is both surveyed for and created within the United States. With the threat of Communism tensions were high as the assumed collective ideology in the United States was that Communism is bad, the United States and the Democracy is good. -
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US in the Vietnam War
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Korean War
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The Part Played by People by Katz and Lazarsfeld
Katz and Lazarsfeld are important people in regards to debunking the hypodermic needle theory and the magic bullet theory. The "weak effect" that Lazarsfeld proposes shows how weak media's direct influence is weak compared to personal influence by opinion leaders in society. This idea of two-step flow goes against the hypodermic needle theory and presents an obstacle against the idea that propaganda works through the Hypodermic Needle Theory. -
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Cuban Missile Crisis
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The Spiral of Silence Theory by Noelle-Neumann
"...Public Opinion is a matter of speaking and of silence." (pg. 44 Noelle-Neumann) Noelle-Neumann's idea on how silence works with public opinion is a great compliment to how propaganda operates. If propaganda convinced a group that an unpopular idea is actually the norm in society, unless that group speaks against that idea the unpopular idea becomes public opinion. This theory goes well with how Lasswell and Durkheim present propaganda and collective consciousness. -
The Third-Person Effect in Communication by Davison
The example of WW2 that was posed in Davison's document on the Third Person Effect is a great example to see the theory of the Third-Person Effect and propaganda in action. "the third-person effect hypothesis predicts that people will tend to overestimate the influence that mass commutations have on the attitudes and behavior of others. This idea goes directly against the hypodermic theory which the theory itself overestimates influence. In this case propaganda's influence was overestimated. -
Framing Agenda Setting and Priming by Tewksbury and Scheufele
Tewksbury and Scheufele do a great job in listing the shifts of understanding in mass media and its effects of people from lazarsfeld to Noelle-Neumann. "Framing... the assumption that how an issue is characterized in news reports can have an influence on how it is understood by audiences." (pg. 11 Tewskbury and Scheufele). propaganda falls into the idea of framing especially from the idea that it is a form of media that can take the medium of a news report.
