Tag Archives: Labeling Theory Deviance Crime Justice Democracy Freedom Capitalism Edward Bernays Century Of The Self Adam Curtiss Emile Durkheim Social Fact

This youtube video is a small clip from the BBC’s documentary “Century of the Self” by Adam Curtis. The documentary is divided into three parts, each approximately one hour long. This clip is from the hour long segment that focuses on Edward Bernays.

Professor Mckinney once mentioned Bernays in the opening weeks of the course. Edward Bernays was a nephew of the renowned psychologist Sigmund Freud. Bernays lived in America, and is commonly heralded as the “father of public relations”. The documentary explains how he was the engine behind what essentially was democratic propaganda. Bernays was able to mold and shape the mentality, ideologies and desires of the mass public in ways that would satisfy their inner desires and keep them docile and happy.

One of the most striking examples of Bernay’s mastermind in the field of public relations has to do with cigarette smoking. In the late 1920’s, cigarette smoking was almost exclusively a man’s hobby. Almost no women smoked cigarettes. In fact, a certain psychoanalyst at the time believe that cigarettes were a manifestation of the penis and were a symbol of male empowerment. Bernays was hired to figure out a way to advertise and promote cigarettes, so that they would instead symbolize female empowerment. He wanted to change the common sentiments about cigarettes so they could be portrayed as the female version of the penis.

The clip explains how he was able to do so by having an exhibition during a parade in NYC where a group of models were hired to provocatively smoke. This started the trend of women smoking and allowed cigarette companies for the first time to sell their cigarettes to women.

I think this is a great example of labeling theory and Durkheim’s social fact. It shows how some of our seemingly innate and inherent desires and preferences are actually the result of our social environment. If someone was smart and subtle enough, they could change our environment just enough so our desires and preferences could be changed to their liking. We, as a society, once believed that cigarette smoking was not womanly. But Bernays successfully changed this idea, through the subconscious and subtle art of public relations and advertising.

This is a prime example of what Durkheim referred to when he said that the majority of what we think and desire is not based on our natural unique preferences, but they are instead molded, shaped and influenced by the society around us. Though we are convinced that our desires come from within us, internally, the actual fact of the matter is that they are imposed upon us externally. We take many socially constructed ideas (democracy, free markets, freedom, liberty, equality) as rational facts, when in truth they are ideas that are imposed on us by an invisible ruling elite like Edward Bernays. These democractic propaganda puppeteers are responsible for controlling the behavior of the masses in America, so as to keep them content and docile with the status quo.

I think this quote sums it up nicely: “The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist.”