- According to Freud, in human nature there are sexual and aggressive forces hidden in the minds of all human beings—forces that if not controlled, lead society to chaos and destruction
- Today, a theory used to control mass crowd in world of mass democracy
- Edward Bernais- first person to use Freud’s ideas to manipulate masses
- Showed corporations how they could make people want things they don’t need by linking mass produced goods to their unconscious desires
- Political idea- how to control masses- by satisfying inner selfish desires; made happy and docile- all consuming self
- 100 years ago, Freud’s ideas hated by society- Vienna- ideas embarrassing and the idea of examining inner feelings was a threat to Empire control
- Hidden inside all human beings are dangerous and instinctual drives
- Devised psychoanalysis– by analyzing dreams and free association, he unearthed sexual and aggressive forces, which are remnants of our animal past
- These forces are feelings we repress because they are too dangerous
- War- how people expected to behave due to psychoanalysis- government forces unleashed primitive forces
- Making money by manipulating the human brain
Experiment A: Persuade Women to Smoke
– What do cigarettes mean to women?
– Cigarettes=symbol of penis and male power
– Must find way to connect cigarettes to challenging male power, and then women would smoke
**CIGARETTES= TORCHES OF FREEDOM
– used debutantes smoking as catalyst
– across US, cigarettes among women became socially acceptable
– made a woman independent
**POSSIBLE TO PERSUADE PEOPLE TO BEHAVE IRRATIONALLY BY LINKING PRODUCTS TO EMOTIONAL DESIRES AND FEELINGS**
Ex. the idea that smoking is freeing= irrational
– played on the desire to be independent
**IRRELEVANT OBJECTS COULD BECOME POWERFUL EMOTIONAL SYMBOLS OF HOW YOU WANT TO BE SEEN BY OTHERS **
– emotional connection to product or service
– products always been promoted in functional ways- practicality
“Shift America from trained to desired culture”
**DESIRES MUST OVERSHADOW NEEDS**
– What motivates the human mind?
– Produce new type of customer
Ex. Cars= symbol of male sexuality
– Celebrities express character through clothing
*how easy unconscious aggressive forces in human beings could be triggered when they were in crowds
– underestimated aggressive instincts of human beings
– submerged, dangerous forces
– just under surface of society; forces that could erupt easily and produce frenzied mob capable of destroying government
Democracy wrong?
– belief that humans could be trusted to make rational decisions on a rational basis is WRONG
– stimulating inner desires then confronting them with consumer products
– consumerism= central motor in everyday life
– how to run mass democracy: happy and docile consumers
o stimulate irrational self
Stock Market Crash
– consumers stopped buying desired objects
Attack on civilization as sign of human progress
– civilization actually created to control dangerous animal forces
– idea of individual freedom (democracy) impossible; human beings never allowed to truly express themselves (too dangerous); always be controlled and therefore discontent
Roosevelt
– human beings rational and could take active part in government
– explain policies, take opinions into account
*George Gallop and Elmo Roper rejected Bernais
– based on idea people could be trusted to know what they want
– one could measure and predict behaviour of the public when asked strictly factual questions, and avoid manipulating their emotions
Scientific Polling: people behave rationally and make good decisions, but must be truly informed about government workings
*voice of people is rational and should be heard
- Under the umbrella of National Organization of Manufacturers- a campaign launched to connect public and big business
- Businesses responded to desires where politics couldn’t
- Depended on treating people not as active citizens but as passive consumers because this is the key to control in a mass democracy
- People not in charge, but desires are in charge
- No decision making
- Driven by instinctual desires, and if you can trigger these desires, you can get what you want
* World War II- altered view of democracy and the way the world was governed
