Crystallizing Public Opinion and Selected Writings

About this book

A seminal work on how public opinion is created and shaped, Edward Bernays's 1923 classic Crystallizing Public Opinion set down the principles that corporations and government have used to influence public attitudes over the past century.A primer on the then new profession of "public relations counsel," Crystallizing elucidates the "instruments and techniques" that PR professionals use to mold public opinion on behalf of their client's interests. By adapting the ideas that Bernays put forth, governments and advertisers have been able to "regiment the mind like the military regiments the body."This edition also includes Bernay's classic 1947 essay, The Engineering of Consent, on the the application of scientific principles and tried practices to the task of getting people to support ideas and programs, as well as selections of Bernays's other writings on education, war propaganda, and polling.