Propaganda & Media Studies
Propaganda (Ellul)
by Jacques Ellul
The most intellectually demanding text on propaganda and arguably the most important. French sociologist Ellul argues that propaganda in modern technological society is not a tool of the state but an environmental condition — that educated, information-seeking citizens are the most susceptible, not the most resistant. His taxonomy distinguishes sociological vs political propaganda, integration vs agitation, and horizontal vs vertical forms. Counterintuitively devastating: the cure (education, media literacy) may accelerate the disease.
#propaganda#media-studies#political-theory#thought-control#critical-theory
