Abstract
Propaganda and its elements are an inseparable part of everyday life. In a digital age, when, in every second, a vast amount of information is exchanged, the possibilities and variations of propaganda techniques application are proportionally high. The majority of these propaganda messages that can be seen every time we turn on a device, or just go outside and look around are the messages of economic propaganda. Every time we hear a speech of a corporate or government official, we hear a carefully created and delivered message put together by public relations experts, which as well, by its genesis, belongs to propaganda. Still, the subject of this paper is propaganda, which is much more malicious in its origins and manifestations, and that is propaganda for ultranationalist purposes. In this paper, the authors first consider the etiological and historical aspects of propaganda focusing on those forms that had the most devastating effects. Propaganda predates mass media, but it is their conjunction that helped propaganda to reach a maximum capacity of its impact. Therefore, the authors analyze the correlation between propagandists, propaganda, and mass media.
Highlights
Broj 3 / 2020Propaganda, as a form of communication with a goal of promotion of specific ideas or plans of particular interest groups, is present in various forms since ancient times
Edward Bernays, a nephew of Sigmund Freud, is considered the pioneer of modern-sense propaganda, as well as a pioneer of public relations as an essential state, corporate and social activity. By leaning on his uncle’s teachings, Bernays enveloped different aspects and ways to influence of consciousness of people in his opus, which is visible in his books „Crystallizing Public Opinion“ from 1923, „Propaganda“ from 1928, and „The Engineering of Consent“ from 1947, as well as in papers „Manipulating Public Opinion: The Why and the How“, published in American Journal of Sociology in 1928 and „The Marketing of National Policies: A Study of War Propaganda“, published in Journal of Marketing in 1942
Propaganda seems inseparable from media of mass communication, which have the ultimate potential for dissemination of information, as well as for engineering of consciousness and public opinion manipulation because of their efficacy, availability, and constant presence
Summary
Propaganda, as a form of communication with a goal of promotion of specific ideas or plans of particular interest groups, is present in various forms since ancient times. The term originated in the XVII century when the Roman Catholic Pope Gregory XV established the Congregatio de propaganda fide (Congregation for Propagating the Faith) to centralize the church’s missionary activities under his control This congregation, referred to informally as „propaganda“, was a group of cardinals charged with directing church affairs in non-Catholic countries[1]. Edward Bernays, a nephew of Sigmund Freud, is considered the pioneer of modern-sense propaganda, as well as a pioneer of public relations as an essential state, corporate and social activity By leaning on his uncle’s teachings, Bernays enveloped different aspects and ways to influence of consciousness of people in his opus, which is visible in his books „Crystallizing Public Opinion“ from 1923, „Propaganda“ from 1928, and „The Engineering of Consent“ from 1947, as well as in papers „Manipulating Public Opinion: The Why and the How“, published in American Journal of Sociology in 1928 and „The Marketing of National Policies: A Study of War Propaganda“, published in Journal of Marketing in 1942. If an ideology is nationalistic, that makes the combination damaging and dangerous, every form of propaganda is oriented on two sides – „for“ one and „against“ the other, where the others are most often victimized, so we can conclude that systemic propaganda is both the source of social conflicts and the fuel that makes the conflicts explode, and with additional development and diversification of mass media it becomes exponentially more dangerous
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