Propaganda

Propaganda

Propaganda is a concept designating a set of persuasion techniques, implemented to propagate with all available means, an idea, an opinion, an ideology or a doctrine and stimulate the adoption of behaviors within a target audience .

These techniques are exercised on a population in order to influence it, even indoctrinate it. Propaganda can use advertising because it aims to change choices, patterns of society, opinions and behavior.

Advertising uses techniques similar to those used by propaganda. Notwithstanding the similarity of some of their characteristics, the links between propaganda and advertising are widely discussed.

Propaganda was studied in academia from the beginning of the 20th century14, mainly in history, but also in psychology (particularly in social psychology) and in communication (especially concerning mass media).

Propaganda typology
Political, economic, religious, military propaganda

Propaganda pursues various objectives which can be political, economic, religious or military.

It seeks to direct the hopes of public opinion, to modify the actions of targeted people (censorship can participate in the modalities of propaganda by suppressing information that the government wishes not to disclose).

In its hardest form, it shapes people’s knowledge by any means including diversion or confusion.

During a war, propaganda is used to dehumanize the enemy and create hatred, by controlling the representation that public opinion has of it. This can include false accusations such as defamation.

White, black or gray propaganda

For the military, propaganda can be classified according to its source:

  • “white propaganda” comes from an openly identified source
  • “black propaganda” comes from a supposedly friendly, but actually hostile, source
  • “gray propaganda” comes from a supposedly neutral, but actually hostile, source.

Sociological propaganda

Propaganda has evolved a lot with the birth of psychological warfare in which it finds its extensions. In 1962, Jacques Ellul distinguished two types of propaganda:

political propaganda, which is very old and whose operating modes are generally known today, and a new type of propaganda, sociological propaganda:

The first (that of governments, parties and pressure groups) is distinguished from the second which, less visible, is close to socialization, which can be defined itself as “the process of inculcating dominant norms and values ​​by which a society integrates its members “.

Ellul contrasts the direct, deliberate and coercive nature of political propaganda (which is found primarily in totalitarian regimes) with the “larger”, “more uncertain”, ideological, “diffuse”, unconscious and spontaneous nature of the sociological propaganda.

The latter, which is repugnant to designate under the term propaganda in our pluralist democracies, acts “gently”, by “impregnation”.

It is expressed through advertising, commercial cinema, public relations, technology in general, school education, social services …

Partly unintentional, this propaganda is based on these multiple activities which act concordantly as a whole to inculcate a certain way of life.

Propaganda techniques

Propaganda techniques have been used in democracies since the First World War, but today propaganda is exercised under the name of “political communication” or public relations [citation needed].

In a dictatorship, the conservation of power is ensured by coercive means while in a democracy, the means of conquest or conservation of power are based on persuasion.

Media power then takes precedence over military power.

According to a paradox formulated by Hume, in a democracy, the army is much less powerful than in a dictatorship. To maintain their power, elected leaders therefore need even more effective propaganda than dictatorial power.

Indeed, excessive police repression could lead to electoral defeat.

Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky proposed a “propaganda model”, which they tested empirically in the United States.

Their method consists of quantifying the influence of four factors that can modify information on a large number of press articles of various origins but relating to comparable subjects:

the press group, advertisers, information providers (government agencies) and the dominant ideology.

The main aspects of propaganda in a democracy are, according to their census, the following:

  • media influence: radio, television, press, advertising, internet.
  • voluntary confusion: justification of the sale of a product by ethical principles, or vice versa, promotion of a humanitarian operation by using communication techniques from private companies.
  • semantic enhancement: “solidarity” for example.
  • manipulation of public opinion using biased statistics or polls.
  • image falsification: video retouching, false images.
  • editorial self-censorship.
  • partial information.
  • demonization campaigns.

Texte Wikipedia

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