Editing Edward Bernays (section)

==Philosophy==
Bernays touted the idea that the "masses" are driven by factors outside their conscious understanding, and therefore that their minds can and should be manipulated by the capable few. "Intelligent men must realize that propaganda is the modern instrument by which they can fight for productive ends and help to bring order out of chaos."{{sfn|Marks|1957|p=73}}<ref>Bernays, ''[[Propaganda (book)|Propaganda]]'' (1928), p. 159. Quoted in {{harvnb|Olasky|1984|p=3}}.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Olasky|1984|p=17}}: "... his belief that behind-the-scenes controllers should exercise 'social responsibility' by devising clever public relations campaigns to direct 'human herds' into appropriate corals."</ref>

{{Quote box |quote =The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in [[democracy|democratic]] society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an [[invisible government]] which is the true ruling power of our country.&nbsp;... We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society.&nbsp;... In almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of [[politics]] or business, in our social conduct or our [[ethical]] thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons&nbsp;... who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind.
|source = [https://archive.org/details/Propaganda1928ByEdwardL.Bernays – ''Propaganda''] (1928) pp. 9–10
|width = 50%
|align  = right}}

Propaganda was portrayed as the only alternative to chaos.<ref>{{harvnb|Olasky|1985|p=19}}; {{harvnb|Olasky|1984|p=19, f. 40}} "Bernays emphasized that in a large scale society there were only two choices: manipulation or social chaos. He saw history moving in a certain direction and public relations practitioners obliged to climb on the locomotive".</ref>

One way Bernays reconciled manipulation with liberalism was his claim that the human masses would inevitably succumb to manipulation—and therefore the good propagandists could compete with the evil, without incurring any marginal moral cost.<ref>{{harvnb|Olasky|1984|pp=13–14}}: "What Potter did not understand, though, is that the contradictions apparent to a classically-trained political scientist formed a seamless web in the new world of public relations that Bernays was proposing. If the 'individual common man' has no real individuality, as Bernays argued in <u>Propaganda</u>—only 'rubber stamping' by one propagandist or another, then one more duping does no harm to individual souls. And if Hitler had hit upon the techniques and used them for evil purposes, then that would be all the more reason—given the inevitability of these techniques being put into use and the inability of men to resist them—for those hoping to avoid the chaos to rush the techniques into use before evil could turn them into a triumph of fire."</ref> In his view, "the minority which uses this power is increasingly intelligent, and works more and more on behalf of ideas that are socially constructive."<ref>Bernays, "The Minority Rules" (1927), p. 155; quoted in {{harvnb|Marks|1957|p=182}}</ref>

Unlike some other early public relations practitioners, Bernays advocated centralization and planning. [[Marvin Olasky]] calls his 1945 book ''Take Your Place at the Peace Table'' "a clear appeal for a form of mild corporate socialism."<ref>{{harvnb|Olasky|1984|p=12}}: "Bernays, however, anticipated greater centralization in government and media, and the consequent growth of a new bureaucracy. He advocated governmental licensing of public relations counselors, or at the least a set pattern of formal, university training befitting those who would form a latter-day mandarin class. Bernays also tried to enlist proponents of greater economic centralization in his public-relations planning.</ref>