Age of Propaganda: The Everyday Use and Abuse of Persuasion (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780805074031)

Americans create 57% of the world's advertising while representing only 6% of its population; half of our waking hours are spent immersed in the mass media. Persuasion has always been integral to the democratic process, but increasingly, thoughtful discussion is being replaced with simplistic soundbites and manipulative messages.

Drawing on the history of propaganda as well as on contemporary research in social psychology, Age of Propaganda shows how the tactics used by political campaigners, sales agents, advertisers, televangelists, demagogues, and others often take advantage of our emotions by appealing to our deepest fears and most irrational hopes, creating a distorted vision of the world we live in.

This revised and updated edition includes coverage of the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal, recent election campaigns, talk radio, teen suicide, U.F.O. abductions, the Columbine shootings, and novel propaganda tactics based on hypocrisy and false allegations.

Author: Anthony Pratkanis, Elliot Aronson
ISBN-10: 0805074031
ISBN-13: 9780805074031
Publisher: Holt McDougal
Language: English
Published: 03/14/2001
Pages: 432
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.90lbs
Size: 9.22h x 6.09w x 0.76d