Crystallizing public opinion
by Edward L. Bernays, Mitch Horowitz · first published 1923
42% recommend58% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Foundational 1923 text on public relations by its founder, valued for explaining how opinion is shaped and why its ideas still hold; recommended for anyone studying PR, media, or persuasion.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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Beat me to it. Also recommended to read Bernays' works themselves, particularly "Crystallizing Public Opinion" and "Propaganda." Its like reading an engineer's manual for social control.
on “The New Mind Control – The internet has spawned subtle forms of influence” ↗…the ideas discussed here bring 21st century updates and explanation of platforms and propagation of information for profit, but are comfortably within the Platonic forms espoused in Bernays masterpiece, Crystallizing Public Opinion, [0] which I highly suggest anyone interested in content marketing in this style to read. [0]: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/193543926X/ref=as_li_tl?ie=...
on “The Content Marketing Handbook” ↗…Republican Party fiasco regarding Donald Trump) If you are willing to see how your life and role as a passive consumer has been designed, watch the BBC documentary "Century of the Self," read Edward Bernays' "Crystallizing Public Opinion," and "Propaganda," and for an extra dose of depression, Noam Chomsky's "Profit Over People." Sorry.
on “UK surveillance powers bill could force startups to bake in backdoors” ↗…community management tools, Reddit has thrown a wrench into the gears of public relations, which today still resembles the model Edward Bernays outlined back in the 1920s. (Aside: I highly recommend "Crystallizing Public Opinion" for anyone who cares about PR. It is sill relevant after 90 years.) For decades there was a gaping chasm between the general public and public figures, their representatives, and little need to revolutionize…
on “Reddit Moderators Shut Down Parts of Site Over Employee’s Dismissal” ↗…father of public relations, to understand the origins of this practice. As thundergolfer mentioned, Manufacturing Consent is also a great read, though not as directly related. https://www.amazon.com/Crystallizing-Public-Opinion-Edward-B...
on “Teen Vogue published and then deleted an uncritical story about Facebook” ↗“Crystallizing Public Opinion” (1923) is another important Bernays text.
on “Statement on EU-US Cooperation on Turning Public Opinion Against Encryption” ↗You can also buy Edward Bernays books Propaganda and Crystallizing Public Opinion for a very fair price on Amazon, though Propaganda at least isn't so great.
on “Things Real People Don't Say About Advertising” ↗…greats are told to do something by a client, and the lesser firms copy the greats because their clients want to live like the people that the greats design for. Edward Bernays has a great piece on this in Crystallizing Public Opinion in the explanation of how getting high end architects to include music rooms in their designs leads lesser architects to copy them and everything they do to stay current, so when the average Joe walks…
on “Luxury Home Mainstays May Be Gone in 20 Years” ↗I believe I'm remembering either Crystallizing Public Opinion (1923) or Propaganda (1928), both by Bernays. (IIRC, the exploitation of local social graphs is in his description of the techniques used to sell US entry into the Great War/WWI) But there were other…
on “Human behavior on social media is similar to collective behavior in nature” ↗…other words, if the choice is between a "simple argument" that may work, and a concerted propaganda effort that will work, propaganda will win every time. This is what I get for reading Edward Bernays' "Crystallizing Public Opinion" between bug fixes.
on “The Radicalization of Luke Skywalker: A Jedi’s Path to Jihad” ↗…a large degree the press...all conform to the demands of the public. But to an equally large degree the public responds to the influence of these very same mediums of communication." Edward Bernays, "Crystallizing Public Opinion" Fault is a mirage. There is only success or failure
on “Al Jazeera America to Shut Down in April” ↗I'm reminded of a section of Edward Bernays' "Crystallizing Public Opinion," where he argued that people are inherently tribal and assume identities for themselves, which, by necessity, requires that they also view their identity as being not a part of the other side. It's…
on “Humans once opposed coffee and refrigeration: why we often hate new stuff” ↗…Control". Sure, it sounds like it'd be a conspiracy theory video, but it's far from it, listed all sources, and recommended books which were discussed. Those books being: The Crowd by Gustave Le Bon, Crystallizing Public Opinion, and Propaganda by Edward Bernays, Sigmund Freud's nephew. That video on youtube really changed the way I view the world, especially media and "groups" of people, like antifa, the alt-right, or what…
on “Facebook and Google pressured EU experts to soften fake news regulations” ↗The conclusion that every government came to after Bernays' "Crystallizing Public Opinion" is that the society who can be arbitrarily manipulated by propaganda is better because it's something like adding a rudder to a rudderless ship.
on “Advertising as a major source of human dissatisfaction (2019) [pdf]” ↗https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Bernays > Edward Louis 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". > Of his many books, Crystallizing Public Opinion (1923) and Propaganda (1928) gained special attention as early efforts to define and theorize the field of public relations. Citing works of writers such as Gustave Le Bon, Wilfred Trotter, Walter Lippmann,…
on “Advertising Is a Cancer on Society” ↗