*** Welcome to piglix ***

The Engineering of Consent


"The Engineering of Consent" is an essay by Edward Bernays first published in 1947, and a book he published in 1955.

In his own words, Bernays describes engineering consent as "use of an engineering approach—that is, action based only on thorough knowledge of the situation and on the application of scientific principles and tried practices to the task of getting people to support ideas and programs."

Bernays explained, "Professionally, [public relations] activities are planned and executed by trained practitioners in accordance with scientific principles, based on the findings of social scientists. Their dispassionate approach and methods may be likened to those of the engineering professions which stem from the physical sciences."

The threat of engineered consent in democracy has been expressed in a textbook on American government:

To some observers, consumer psychologists have already made the choice for people before they buy a certain product. Marketing is often based on themes and symbols that unconsciously influence consumer behavior.

The "Engineering Consent" chapter of Christopher Bryson's book The Fluoride Deception describes how Bernays helped the water fluoridation campaign in the USA.

In 1947 Edward Bernays wrote an essay entitled "The Engineering of Consent" which appeared in the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. The author's observations in the essay include the following:

In 1955 University of Oklahoma Press published Bernays' book The Engineering of Consent. In fact Bernays contributed only the first chapter (22 pages) "The Theory and Practice of Public Relations: A Resume". The seven other chapters were by his associates: Objectives by Howard Walden Cutler, Research by Sherwood Dodge, Strategy by Nicholas Samstag, Themes and Symbols by Doris Fleischman and H.W. Cutler, Organization for public relations by John Price Jones, Planning by Benjamin Fine, and The tactics of public relations by A. Robert Ginsburgh.


...
Wikipedia

...