Propaganda with Design: Environmental Dramaturgy in the Political Rally

Abstract

Ideology is communicated through the written and spoken word, and it can be intensified in an audience environment where setting adds another dimension.' In Presentation of Everyday Life, Goffman stresses the actor-audience relationship in communication, and he points out the importance of setting to a performance. The issues dealt with by stage craft and stage management. . . seem to occur everywhere in life, providing a clearcut dimension for formal sociological analysis.'2 Goffman's analytical approach to situations has been criticized for appearing to be interaction, ie, symbolic transfer between participants, as in a conversation; while in reality it becomes social ie, symbolic transfer that is not reciprocal, as in a one-sided argument. In such evaluations, relations are defined as the human transfer of symbols, or, actions communicated by an actor's body. In the audience environment, it is the social action aspect of communication that is in operation. In developing a set of strategies for action, physical design of the surrounding environment must be considered. Social science research has recognized the influence of environmental dramaturgy in legitimate theater, but little attention has been given to the importance of stage design for political ideology.4 Political ideology is by nature futuristic, and it accomplishes its objectives through the use of propaganda.5 In an audience environment, the stage set for propaganda can involve architectural planning. Fitch notes that architecture also tends to be futuristic as well as idealistic, and he concludes: . buildings must always be designed by men and these men will always bring to the task preconceived ideas of what forms they ought to assume. Since propagandists are more interested in presenting an ideology than in the ideology itself,7 they can use the physical design of an audience setting as a method to implement political propaganda. Such aesthetic control can lead to directing knowledge independent of societal beliefs. Social Nature of the Political Rally