The Engineering of Consent

Bv EDWARD L. BERNAYS

REEDOM of speech and its demo-cratic corollary, a free press, havetacitly expanded our Bill of Rights toinclude the right of persuasion. Thisdevelopment was an inevitable resultof the expansion of the media of freespeech and persuasion, denned in otherarticles in this volume. All these mediaprovide open doors to the public mind.Any one of us through these media mayinfluence the attitudes and actions of our fellow citizens.The tremendous expansion of com-munications in the United States hasgiven this Nation the world's most pene-trating and effective apparatus for thetransmission of ideas. Every residentis constantly exposed to the impact of our vast network of communicationswhich reach every corner of the coun-try, no matter how remote or isolated.Words hammer continually at the eyesand ears of America. The United Stateshas become a small room in which asingle whisper is magnified thousandsof times.Knowledge of how to use this enor-mous amplifying system becomes amatter of primary concern to those whoare interested in socially constructiveaction.There are two main divisions of thiscommunications system which maintainsocial cohesion. On the first level thereare the commercial media. Almost 1,800daily newspapers in the United Stateshave a combined circulation of around44,000,000. There are approximately10,000 weekly newspapers and almost6,000 magazines. Approximately 2,000radio stations of various types broad-cast to the Nation's 60,000,000 receiv-ing sets. Approximately 16,500 motionpicture houses have a capacity of almost10,500,000. A deluge of books andpamphlets is published annually. Thecountry is blanketed with billboards,handbills, throwaways, and direct mailadvertising. Round tables, panels andforums, classrooms and legislative as-semblies, and public platforms—anyand all media, day after day, spreadthe word, someone's word.On the second level there are the spe-cialized media owned and operated bythe many organized groups in this coun-try. Almost all such groups (and manyof their subdivisions) have their owncommunications systems. They dis-seminate ideas not only by means of the formal written word in labor papers,house organs, special bulletins, and thelike, but also through lectures, meetings,discussions, and rank-and-file conversa-tions.

LEADERSHIP THROUGH COMMUNICATION

This web of communications, some-times duplicating, crisscrossing, andoverlapping, is a condition of fact, nottheory. We must recognize the sig-nificance of modern communications notonly as a highly organized mechanicalweb but as a potent force for socialgood or possible evil. We can deter-mine whether this network shall be em-ployed to its greatest extent for soundsocial ends.For only by mastering the techniquesof communication can leadership beexercised fruitfully in the vast complexthat is modern democracy in the UnitedStates. In an earlier age, in a soci-ety that was small geographically andwith a more homogeneous population, aleader was usually known to his fol-lowers personally; there was a visualrelationship between them. Communi-cation was accomplished principally bypersonal announcement to an audience

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or through a relatively primitive print-ing press. Books, pamphlets, and news-papers reached a very small literatesegment of the public.We are tired of hearing repeated thethreadbare cliche "The world has grownsmaller"; but this so-called truism isnot actually true, by any means. Theworld has grown both smaller and verymuch larger. Its physical frontiershave been expanded. Today's leadershave become more remote physicallyfrom the public; yet, at the same time,the public has much greater familiaritywith these leaders through the systemof modern communications. Leadersare just as potent today as ever.In turn, by use of this system, whichhas constantly expanded as a result of technological improvement, leaders havebeen able to overcome the problems of geographical distance and social stratifi-cation to reach their publics. Under-lying much of this expansion, andlargely the reason for its existence inits present form, has been widespreadand enormously rapid diffusion of literacy.Leaders may be the spokesmen formany different points of view. Theymay direct the activities of major or-ganized groups such as industry, labor,or units of government. They maycompete with one another in battles forpublic good will; or they may, repre-senting divisions within the larger units,compete among themselves. Such lead-ers, with the aid of technicians in thefield who have specialized in utilizingthe channels of communication, havebeen able to accomplish purposefullyand scientifically what we have termed"the engineering of consent."

THE ENGINEERING APPROACH

This phrase quite simply means theuse of an engineering approach—that is,action based only on thorough knowl-edge of the situation and on the appli-cation of scientific principles and triedpractices to the task of getting peopleto support ideas and programs. Anyperson or organization depends ulti-mately on public approval, and is there-fore faced with the problem of engi-neering the public's

consent

to a pro-gram or goal. We expect our electedgovernment officials to try to engineerour consent—through the network of communications open to them—for themeasures they propose. We reject gov-ernment authoritarianism or regimenta-tion, but we are willing to take actionsuggested to us by the written orspoken word. The engineering of con-sent is the very essence of the demo-cratic process, the freedom to persuadeand suggest. The freedoms of speech,press, petition, and assembly, the free-doms which make the engineering of consent possible, are among the mostcherished guarantees of the Constitu-tion of the United States.The engineering of consent should bebased theoretically and practically onthe complete understanding of thosewhom it attempts to win over. But itis sometimes impossible to reach jointdecisions based on an understanding of facts by all the people. The averageAmerican adult has only six years of schooling behind him. With pressingcrises and decisions to be faced, a leaderfrequently cannot wait for the peopleto arrive at even general understanding.In certain cases, democratic leadersmust play their part in leading the pub-lic through the engineering of consentto socially constructive goals and values.This role naturally imposes upon themthe obligation to use the educationalprocesses, as well as other availabletechniques, to bring about as completean understanding as possible.Under no circumstances should theengineering of consent supersede or dis-place the functions of the educational

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system, either formal or informal, inbringing about understanding by thepeople as a basis for their action. Theengineering of consent often does sup-plement the educational process. If higher general educational standardswere to prevail in this country and thegeneral level of public knowledge andunderstanding were raised as a result,this approach would still retain itsvalue.Even in a society of a perfectionisteducational standard, equal progresswould not be achieved in every field.There would always be time lags, blindspots, and points of weakness; and theengineering of consent would still beessential. The engineering of consentwill always be needed as an adjunct to,or a partner of, the educational process.

IMPORTANCE OF ENGINEERING CONSENT

Today it is impossible to overesti-mate the importance of engineering con-sent; it affects almost every aspect of our daily lives. When used for socialpurposes, it is among our most valuablecontributions to the efficient function-ing of modern society. The techniquescan be subverted; demagogues can uti-lize the techniques for antidemocraticpurposes with as much success as canthose who employ them for socially de-sirable ends. The responsible leader, toaccomplish social objectives, must there-fore be constantly aware of the possi-bilities of subversion. He must applyhis energies to mastering the operationalknow-how of consent engineering, andto out-maneuvering his opponents inthe public interest.It is clear that a leader in a democ-racy need not always possess the per-sonal qualities of a Daniel Webster ora Henry Clay. He need not be visibleor even audible to his audiences. Hemay lead indirectly, simply by effec-tively using today's means of makingcontact with the eyes and ears of thoseaudiences. Even the direct, or whatmight be called the old-fashioned,method of speaking to an audience isfor the most part once removed; forusually public speech is transmitted,mechanically, through the mass mediaof radio, motion pictures, and television.During World War I, the famousCommittee on Public Information, or-ganized by George Creel, dramatized inthe public's consciousness the effective-ness of the war of words. The Com-mittee helped to build the morale of our own people, to win over the neu-trals, and to disrupt the enemy. Ithelped to win that war. But by com-parison with the enormous scope of word warfare in World War II, theCommittee on Public Information usedprimitive tools to do an important job.The Office of War Information aloneprobably broadcast more words over itsshort-wave facilities during the warthan were written by all of George

Creel's staff.

As this approach came to be recog-nized as the key factor in influencingpublic thought, thousands of experts inmany related fields came to the fore—such specialists as editors, publishers,advertising men, heads of pressuregroups and political parties, educators,and publicists. During World War Iand the immediate postwar years a newprofession developed in response to thedemand for trained, skilled specialiststo advise others on the technique of en-gineering public consent, a professionproviding counsel on public relations.

THE PROFESSIONAL VIEWPOINT

In 1923 I defined this profession inmy book,

Crystallizing Public Opinion,

and in the same year, at New York Uni-versity, gave the first course on the sub- ject. In the almost quarter-centurythat has elapsed since then, the profes-sion has become a recognized one inthis country and has spread to other