What do you think?
Rate this book
Changing Images of Man
Prepared by The Center for the Study of Social Policy/SRI International.
ISBN 0-08-024314-2 Hardcover
ISBN 0-08-024313-4 Flexicover
ISBN 0-08-024314-2 Hardcover
ISBN 0-08-024313-4 Flexicover
255 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1982
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 2, 2022
Perhaps one of the creepier screeds I’ve read, especially chapters 5, 7, and 8. Beware of “friendly fascism”.
March 30, 2023
There is also a book titled "Changing Images of Man" written by Willis Harman and John Hormann, which was published in 1982. This book is a continuation and expansion of the original conference and book that Joseph Campbell and his colleagues organized in 1955.
In this book, Harman and Hormann examine the same theme of the changing image of humanity in the modern world, but with a greater focus on the emerging field of consciousness studies. The book explores the relationship between science, technology, and consciousness and argues that the development of a more expansive and holistic view of consciousness is necessary to navigate the challenges of the modern world.
Harman and Hormann suggest that as we continue to advance technologically, we need to also develop a greater understanding of the interconnectedness of all things and the importance of spiritual and moral values. They propose a shift from a reductionist and materialistic view of reality to one that recognizes the inherent interconnectedness of all things and the importance of personal and collective transformation.
Overall, "Changing Images of Man" by Harman and Hormann is an important work that continues the exploration of the theme introduced by Joseph Campbell and his colleagues. It offers a vision of a more integrated and conscious society that can respond to the challenges of the modern world in a more meaningful and sustainable way.
GPT
In this book, Harman and Hormann examine the same theme of the changing image of humanity in the modern world, but with a greater focus on the emerging field of consciousness studies. The book explores the relationship between science, technology, and consciousness and argues that the development of a more expansive and holistic view of consciousness is necessary to navigate the challenges of the modern world.
Harman and Hormann suggest that as we continue to advance technologically, we need to also develop a greater understanding of the interconnectedness of all things and the importance of spiritual and moral values. They propose a shift from a reductionist and materialistic view of reality to one that recognizes the inherent interconnectedness of all things and the importance of personal and collective transformation.
Overall, "Changing Images of Man" by Harman and Hormann is an important work that continues the exploration of the theme introduced by Joseph Campbell and his colleagues. It offers a vision of a more integrated and conscious society that can respond to the challenges of the modern world in a more meaningful and sustainable way.
GPT
January 25, 2026
I stumbled upon this book by accident and am glad I spent the time with it. So much to digest. This is a blueprint for creating a new image of Man to help transformational evolution happen consciously, which is deemed the highest endeavor for Man. As you can imagine, when describing the future Man which has not happened, visions will be fuzzy but the goal comes into frame. This study is written by researchers to better understand how to create a new image that will help Man transform. Into what? Stay tuned!
So it starts with a history with an eye toward crises that precede supposed leaps forward. To that end, the Middle Ages is cast as the dark ages, even though the Church gave us higher education, that preceded the glorious Renaissance. Another way of looking at the Renaissance is to say its artist came from the cultural and educational capital generated by the Church as a necessary prerequisite.
Then we come to the industrial age with dire work conditions, child labor, rampant exploitation leading to late industrial boom for the middle class in America. With this came unsustainable growth models & damage to the environment that had to be addressed. Part of the solution; people need to learn to do with less in America & be happy. Granted some problems are legit, like soulless corporate work & the insatiable disproportionate consumption of minerals & materials by America. But their solution? Not really articulated but intimated, especially at the end, when you start to realize they've got no image of Man to revile what has been.
This new image of Man is never drawn out in the compelling way they wish for it to exist; like a Catholic mass, which is a seminal ritual that does what globalist would wish their one world religion and ethos would do; appeal to the masses to believe in them, in their ideas, in their plans. They believe people need to be unmoored from the religious identities & even familial bonds to be ready for this glorious new Man which has never existed that know of. The family as a potential source of power & protection for the individual & as agent of stability is never considered as well.
And their ideas & plans for us....
We are too wealthy in America & we need to have our lifestyle managed down.
Late stage capitalism has created problems, like environmental damage & widening disparity of wealth, that they believe can only be solved by smashing the old paradigm and providing an appealing alternative that will appeal to all peoples of the world and guide them toward the brave new world order that awaits.
Drugs. Yes, children might need drugs to realize their potential or repress traits deemed inappropriate. Maybe we already give people drugs to manage conditions that a healthy diet & lifestyle would, more likely than not fix. Of course, accute illness is something else entirely.
Technology, social media will be used to maximum effect toward "human potential" and control of mass mind.
Communal mindset will replace 'excessive' individualism & people would own nothing and be happy slaves, or not so happy.
Judeo Christian world view is repressive and insert any other religion, esp one from the East is good. Ultimate need for one world religion that will be all things to all people.
The changing image of Man will be transhuman & devoid of everything that made us great.
So it starts with a history with an eye toward crises that precede supposed leaps forward. To that end, the Middle Ages is cast as the dark ages, even though the Church gave us higher education, that preceded the glorious Renaissance. Another way of looking at the Renaissance is to say its artist came from the cultural and educational capital generated by the Church as a necessary prerequisite.
Then we come to the industrial age with dire work conditions, child labor, rampant exploitation leading to late industrial boom for the middle class in America. With this came unsustainable growth models & damage to the environment that had to be addressed. Part of the solution; people need to learn to do with less in America & be happy. Granted some problems are legit, like soulless corporate work & the insatiable disproportionate consumption of minerals & materials by America. But their solution? Not really articulated but intimated, especially at the end, when you start to realize they've got no image of Man to revile what has been.
This new image of Man is never drawn out in the compelling way they wish for it to exist; like a Catholic mass, which is a seminal ritual that does what globalist would wish their one world religion and ethos would do; appeal to the masses to believe in them, in their ideas, in their plans. They believe people need to be unmoored from the religious identities & even familial bonds to be ready for this glorious new Man which has never existed that know of. The family as a potential source of power & protection for the individual & as agent of stability is never considered as well.
And their ideas & plans for us....
We are too wealthy in America & we need to have our lifestyle managed down.
Late stage capitalism has created problems, like environmental damage & widening disparity of wealth, that they believe can only be solved by smashing the old paradigm and providing an appealing alternative that will appeal to all peoples of the world and guide them toward the brave new world order that awaits.
Drugs. Yes, children might need drugs to realize their potential or repress traits deemed inappropriate. Maybe we already give people drugs to manage conditions that a healthy diet & lifestyle would, more likely than not fix. Of course, accute illness is something else entirely.
Technology, social media will be used to maximum effect toward "human potential" and control of mass mind.
Communal mindset will replace 'excessive' individualism & people would own nothing and be happy slaves, or not so happy.
Judeo Christian world view is repressive and insert any other religion, esp one from the East is good. Ultimate need for one world religion that will be all things to all people.
The changing image of Man will be transhuman & devoid of everything that made us great.
January 28, 2026
The power of NGOs to push for specific policy is no secret: the 1950s Dodd Report, for example, uncovered multiple monetary channels flowing from numerous NGOs in support of Oligarchical Collectivism. In the CSSP and SRI's, both of which are influential Non-Government Organizations, 1982 text Changing Images of Man, they breakdown some of these pushed-for policies in hopes that they will facilitate the emergence of a socialist, transcendental, progressive, and ever-evolving image (worldview) amongst the peoples of the world. While the committee tries to delineate between this system and one built upon Oligarchical elitism by appealing to the individualism and self-realization ethic of the proposed New Man, I fail to see how it is improbable for the masses to be programmed (using the book's language) using the methods they discuss for the supposed healthy facilitation of this new image (hypnosis, education, psychoanalysis, transcendental meditation, biofeedback training, psychedelics, etc.) by an Oligarchical elite. While I may sound like a pessimist, Carl Truman's book The Triumph of the Modern Self rightfully argues that this almost Nietzschean view of the self has triumphed in modern times with (my addition, here) our feet all the more closer to an Oligarchical New World Order. Fr. Seraphim Rose, in his Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future (released around the time of the committee's text), tackles the Oriental philosophy this committee prescribes as an ushering in of an Antichrist World Order (you may disagree with the "Antichrist" part, but his point of an Authoritarian NWO remains the same). All in all, for everyone ridiculing NWO caller-outers who have been discussing this topic for decades, this book (which, as I should have mentioned above, was a textbook for graduate-level Foreign Relations students) is a wake up call to the reality of a spiritually dark elite with netted interest in you, you, and you becoming willing slaves to their systems.
I generously give this book two (not one) stars, because it was, in the very least, an interesting read.
I generously give this book two (not one) stars, because it was, in the very least, an interesting read.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews