The Engineering of Consent by E. L. Bernays

by Edward L. Bernays

"The Engineering of Consent" is an essay by Edward Bernays first published in 1947. He defines "engineering consent" as the art of manipulating people. It maintained that entire populations, which were undisciplined or lacking in intellectual or definite moral principles, were vulnerable to unconscious influence and thus susceptible to want things that they do not need. This was achieved by linking those products and ideas to their unconscious desires. Ernest Dichter, who is widely considered to be the "father of motivational research," referred to this as "the secret-self of the American consumer. In other words, consumer psychologists have already made the choice for people before they buy a certain product. This is achieved by manipulating desires on an unconscious level. The central idea behind the engineering of consent is that the public or people should not be aware of the manipulation taking place.

Genres: Psychology, Politics, Nonfiction, Sociology, Philosophy, Cultural, Technology

Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 1955

About the author

Edward L. Bernays was an Austrian-American pioneer in the field of public relations and propaganda, referred to in his obituary as "the father of public relations".

Reviews

[Kerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good to know what rules they play by. Short and to the point with plenty of examples.

[Will IV · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit dated considering the advent of the internet plays a major role now in the topics this book presents, and which I'm sure has "changed the game" in a major way, but still a very interesting volume and I think mostly still applicable today.

[Annabelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

It kinda felt like the author was trying to get to a particular word count so they went on about unnecessary details, it was super interesting though.

[D · Rating 4 out of 5]

As the writer states: Books on public relations usually place undue emphasis on the minutiae of public relations. This book uses a different approach. It considers what it is, what relation it has to society, how it approaches a problem, and how that approach is made.

[Adam · Rating 2 out of 5]

The essay summarizes what he discusses in his books. It’s a blueprint for RPIE without getting too much into the E.

[Satyaki · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://www.fraw.org.uk/data/politics/...

[Robin Banks · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful book about the practical methods to make people believe the non-sense you want them to. It includes many of the important ideas in great advertising including the idea that people should not realize it's advertising, but think it's unbiassed news. Many of these techniques are innovations of Bernays himself, a nephew of Freud, and a long-standing fixture on Madison Avenue.

[Dylan Tyncherov · Rating 4 out of 5]

the 8 page pdf

[Rohan Mehere · Rating 5 out of 5]

No coincidence that the father of marketing was Sigmund's Freud nephew.