Propaganda Theory - Literature review Example

Propaganda Theory Introduction A paradigm refers to a general perspective on a specific discipline. A normative model takes into account the nature of various aspects in the society. Normative paradigm focuses on how things should be and how to appreciate them. One of the theories that can be discussed under normative model is Propaganda Theory. Propaganda constitutes information passed down to people to promote a cause or convince a particular group of people in the society. Willcox (2005) believes that propaganda is a means of communication that people rely on to influence others. Propaganda involves persuading people to accept certain and act upon certain ideas. Propaganda was used in the ancient days for religious purposes, where it was primarily used by the Catholics and Protestants after the split of the church. Propaganda has negative and positive effects in the contemporary society. The propaganda theory describes how people are persuaded to accept and act upon certain aspects of the society in order to benefit the propagandists. The primary objective of this paper is to discuss the propaganda theory based on the normative paradigm. Normative Paradigm A normative framework focuses on ideas about various societal aspects. The framework refers to perspectives that pass judgment on things. The paradigm is important in organizing beliefs, emotions, actions and thoughts. The history of normative model dates back to the eighteenth century (Eliadis, 2011). People began to use the model after noting the rational differences between descriptive and normative thinking. Normative thinking is a vital aspect of people’s lives because it places an ethical value in their lives in addition to helping them in setting their goals. David Hume, a philosopher, is highly credited for setting the pace of normative thinking. Normative model is used in different academic fields such as law, sociology and philosophy. Normative thinking in sociology relates to the role of norms in the culture and traditions of people. Normative paradigm is widely used in global relations to play a positive impact. The word “normative” is used in law to explain how human beings should act to one another in their formal and informal settings. Normative statements make claims concerning the aspects that the society considers moral. For example, normative frameworks concentrates on how things ought to be, how to value them, and differentiating between good and bad actions. Normative paradigm tends to encourage people to reach higher values of morality by describing the norms of that guide people of such particular society. Historical Analysis of Propaganda Theory Propaganda is information used to influence people. It also refers to people’s attitude on a cause or idea. Propagandists are people who rely on propaganda to further their ideas. Propagandists present ideas in a selective way that evokes sentiments. Propaganda generally appeals to people’s emotions and not their intellectuality (Gambrill, 2012). Initially, propaganda used to play a positive impact in the society. This has changed and people often use propaganda to manipulate others. Propaganda is as ancient as politics and religion. It was first used in 1622 by the Catholic Church to spread their ideologies. In the 1790s, the term served secular purposes. It was later used in the 19th century to serve political needs. Propaganda gained widespread fame in the 20th century. Politicians used it to promote political ideologies, advance government interests and party slogans. Business organizations also began using propaganda to enhance their relationship with the public (Willcox, 2005). The term propaganda, however, became infamous during the Second World War due to its negative connotation. It is used in some cultures in a neutral and positive ways. Its connotations also vary depending on the region. In Portugal, propaganda refers to business advertising endeavors. In England, the propaganda was used for neutral purposes to send information to the members of the public. The term, however, acquired a negative connotation in Europe during the 20th century. It was used to send false information and claims that justified political ideas and actions. Nazism and communism relied on propaganda to spread their ideologies. Governments started using propaganda to create public awareness during the 20th century. Propaganda is weapon used in war over the years. The parties interested in the outcomes of various wars have always used propaganda to create animosity between warring groups. A false image about the enemy would be created and used to dehumanize the warring groups in order to create anger, thus advancing the war. Hitler, for example, relied on propaganda to commit atrocities on Jews. The Soviet Union used propaganda during the Second World War to fight the Germans. Falsehoods concerning atrocities committed by German fighters were spread in the Soviet Union to encourage people to fight the Germans. The falsehoods were convincing and well established (Gambrill, 2012). Propaganda can be categorized as white, black or grey. White propaganda openly reveals its main source. Black propaganda is used by a person acting as another. Grey propaganda is vague. Propaganda, thus, has been in existence time immemorial where propagandists have strived to use it to advance their own interests. Impact of Propaganda on the Society Propaganda has a positive and negative impact on the society. Propaganda in our society is commonly used by politicians and media houses to advance their ideas. Politicians, however, use propaganda more than any other group of people. They use propaganda to gain political mileage against their opponents. According to Stefanidis (2012), propaganda has a negative impact to the modern society and its implications include exploitation of some people if it is to benefit the propagandists. One of the greatest consequences of propaganda is that it can create negative attitudes towards situations and the world. Propaganda was used during wars to cause negative feelings towards others. Capitalists and communists also often use propaganda against each other. The Chinese were loathed during the Cold War due to propaganda used against them. Propaganda has a negative impact in the society since it creates enmity. Hitler led a propaganda campaign against the Jews living in Germany. He turned Germans against the Jews and this led to the holocaust. Hitler used propaganda to break bonds within the society. Friends turned against each other during the holocaust. The society suffers immensely from divergent views and interests propelled by propaganda (Stockmann, 2010). Propaganda can be used to encourage people to embrace certain ideas or cultures that may be divergent to their ways of life. The Chinese government, for example, used propaganda to encourage its citizens to embrace communism and abandon their old way of life. Stockman (2010) argues that propaganda leads to domination of people. A small clique of people use propaganda in the society to influence a larger group. Politicians form part of a small clique of people who hold immense influence in our society. They manipulate people using propaganda to advance their political cause. This may have a positive or negative impact to the society. Politicians who use propaganda to advance a positive cause positively impact the society. The society gets to leap benefits from believing in that cause. Politicians who use propaganda to advance a cause negatively impact the society. They lie to people and exploit them. Propaganda sows depression and doubt in the society. Negative propaganda comprises of false hoods meant to reduce morale in people (Gambrill, 2012). Propaganda was used in the 1st and 2nd world war to demoralize soldiers from opposing sides. Rival camps would send false information on their enemy. Black Propaganda was commonly used during warfare to create confusion. Black Propaganda messages were written with the impression that it came from a different source. Propaganda reduces emotional feelings such frustration and anxiety. This is a positive impact of propaganda to the society. White Propaganda is commonly used to distort information for the sake of people. It places frustrations and anxiety into perception. A country that has lost in battle can use propaganda to reduce frustrations by highlighting that their enemy’s victory was not decisive (Stockman, 2010). Propaganda can be used to play a positive impact by motivating people. Propaganda comprises of truths and lies. This is used to create false hope that may positively impact the society. Effects of Propaganda in our Current Society Propaganda is used to persuade people in order to influence their opinions, ideas, actions, attitudes and emotions. Its effects in our society create a mixture of negative and positive feelings. It creates hope, love, anger, joy, sorrow, anxiety, humility and pain (Stefanidis, 2012). One of the effects of propaganda in our current society is to convince people. The primary intention of propaganda is to convince people. Propagandists use propaganda in the hope that they will influence their ideas on other people. In our current society, business organizations rely on propaganda to advertise themselves. An advert featuring a healthy person eating vegetables may imply that vegetables are the source of the person’s strength. People will be convinced to eat vegetables. Propaganda is used in our current society to polarize people. Propaganda can be confronted using different ideas or perceptions (Willcox, 2005). Propaganda used to portray a situation as simple can be overruled by the society for its simplification. The society will move against the propaganda. Propaganda may, thus, create action in support or against it. Propaganda can lead to more propaganda, ideas or facts. Propaganda is used to bring people together and create one mentality. Politicians use propaganda to bring people together under their ideologies. This creates differences between followers of different people (Stefanidis, 2012). In America, people will identify themselves with either democrats or republicans. The use of propaganda in bringing people together can have negative effects. It can lead to war and intolerance. The Nazi party used propaganda to promote its ideologies. They led the Germans to war. Religious propaganda can be used to kill people from another religion. Terrorists use religious propaganda to advance their terror. They also use propaganda to bring together their supporters and sympathizers. Propaganda creates oppression in the society. Propagandists form part of a small group of people in the society who control the media and politics (Belbine, 2014). They make decisions and sell their decisions to people. Propagandists rely on their propaganda machinery to sell their ideologies. This creates oppression in the society. People with divergent ideas are not listened to due to the propaganda machinery used against them. Government use propaganda machineries to promote their policies. The policies may be oppressive to some people. The policies will however, appeal to most people due to propaganda. Propaganda creates a sense of false pride. It leads to people gaining false hope and pride. Governments rely on propaganda to promote a sense of pride to its citizens. It may use propaganda to enlighten people on the need to be patriotic (Ursprung, 2004). The propaganda will be so effective that people will forget their plights and other oppressions from the government. This is a negative effect of propaganda in our current society. Pride in our countries should come from people’s hearts and not propaganda. State machinery uses such propaganda to run away from their failure. A country may for example experience a terror attack. The government will try and cover up their failure by using propaganda that creates false pride. Propaganda is used by politicians to persuade people. They persuade people to vote for them during elections. They enlighten people on the importance of voting. Politicians rely on media to pass their propaganda messages (Belbine, 2006). This is a negative effect because it does not benefit the society. A large number of politicians do not fulfill their election pledges despite their campaign propaganda. The Effect of Technology on Propaganda Technology has played a positive and negative impact in the use of propaganda on our society. The world has witnessed technological advancements over the years, which has fuelled the use of propaganda (Belbine, 2006). Advancements in technology are associated with ease and speedy means of communication. Currently, people across the world depend on the social media for immediate access to the information released concerning various aspects of the society. The social media platforms such Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Whatssap and Mysapace are gaining popularity at an alarming rate. When propaganda is released, it spreads to millions of people within a few seconds because it shared, retweeted and reposted by the members of particular groups in a specific social media platform. Hitler relied on the media to spread his propaganda. Newspapers were widely used to spread messages by the Nazi politicians. The advent of new technology in the field of communication provides propagandists with new methods of spreading their messages. Thus, the social media has increased the speed for spreading the propaganda. During the traditional days, propaganda was used to influence only the elite in the society. It was a tool for the upper class that made and enforced rules in the ancient days. The advent of technology, however, has changed this. Propaganda is now used to influence all kinds of people in the society (Gambrill, 2012). Politicians use it to reach their supporters regardless of their status in the society. Technology has also ensured that propaganda reaches out to people on time. Initially, propaganda messages took long to reach the intended people. Technological innovations have led to faster and effective means of communication that spread propaganda message within a short period. Technology has played a positive impact in the use of propaganda by reducing the power of propaganda. The internet provides an interactive platform through which issues are discussed. Communication helps in demystifying propaganda messages. It helps in making truthful news available to all. The internet links people globally by forming a global village. Propaganda is, thus, easily spread. A propaganda message can be passed across the world within a short period (Willcox, 2005). This creates both a positive and negative impact depending on the context. Terrorists for example may use technology to rally its supporters against a perceived enemy. They will use propaganda messages to influence their supporters and sympathizers worldwide to join hands against their enemy. Technology has played a role in making terrorism a global challenge since it a modern tool of propaganda. Technology can also be relied on to rally the world against terrorists. The use of technology affects the ways through which propaganda influences people’s lives. Political ideologies are often full of propaganda messages. Politicians use technological innovations to spread their messages (Gambrill, 2012). They rely on modern means of passing information to a large group of people. Twitter is an example of a platform through which ideologies are shared. Famous politicians have millions of people following their activities on twitter. This makes it easier for the politicians to pass ideas and messages. The ideas and messages may positively or negatively influence people depending on the context of the propaganda message. A racist propaganda message can for example influence people against another race. Modern communication helps people learn from history. Propaganda was a common tool used in the 19th and 20th century to advance political interests (Ursprung, 2004). These would often lead to devastating results. The holocaust was fuelled by propaganda propelled by the Nazis. Millions of Jews died. History teaches us that this kind of propaganda is dangerous and can lead to dehumanization. Communication ensures that such moments are captured and discussed at a global level. This is a positive impact of technology on the use of propaganda. It helps in discouraging derogatory messages passed across by propagandists. Technology empowers propagandists. Propaganda is a powerful tool used by people to communicate ideas. Communication is empowered by the means used to communicate the message. Technological innovations in communication empower the use of propaganda by providing an appealing means of passing messages to people (Ursprung, 2004). Hitler used newspapers, posters and the radio to pass his propaganda rhetoric. Conclusion Propaganda refers to the use of information in a persuasive way. It was first used in 1622 for religious purposes. The Catholic Church was facing constant threat from the Protestants. Propaganda was, thus, used to spread religious ideologies in the world. Propaganda has played a positive and negative impact in the society. The impacts have led to negative and positive effects in our modern society. The use of propaganda in our society has changed over time. It was initially a tool used to appeal to the rich elite. This has changed as propagandists try to reach out to all kinds of people. Business organizations rely on propaganda to advertise their products or services to people. They rely on propaganda because it helps in convincing and shaping people’s ideas, opinions, beliefs and emotions (Gambrill, 2012). Technology has played an impact on the use of propaganda in our society. Technological innovations have led to faster, effective and reliable ways of passing messages to people. Propagandists rely on these means to influence other people in the world. This has a positive and negative effect on our modern society. References Belbine. The effects of propaganda on recall, recognition and behavior. II. The conditions which determine the response to propaganda. British Journal of Psychology (London, England: 2003) [serial online]. November 2006;47(4):259-270. Available from: MEDLINE, Ipswich, MA. Accessed September 17, 2014. Eliadis, P. (2011). Evaluation: Seeking Truth or Power. New York: Lea and Blanchard. Gambrill, E. (2012). Propaganda in the Helping Professions. Massachusetts: McGraw Hill. Stefanidis, I. D. (2012). The Fourth Arm. History Today, 62(9), 28-34. Stockmann, D. (2010). Who Believes Propaganda? Journal of social relationships, (202), 269-289.doi: 10.1017/S030574659000238 Ursprung, T. (2004). The use and effect of political propaganda in democracies. Public Choice, 78(3/4), 259-282. Willcox, D. (2005). Propaganda, the Press and Conflict. New York: New York University Press Read More