Media, Persuasion and Propaganda

Living in a saturated media environment, we are crowded from all sides by persuasive messages and information. Advice, promotion and propaganda form a spectrum of persuasion, and everywhere we see it performed in its full theatricality, complete with actors, scripts, props and costumes.
Based on enduring rhetorical principles, these persuasive techniques and the psychology behind them have become increasingly sophisticated during the 'age of persuasion', a century of applied research in advertising, advocacy, public relations, mass entertainment and social control. Media, Persuasion and Propaganda guides the reader through the many varieties of persuasion and its performance, exploring the protocols of rhetoric unique to the medium, from orality and print to film and digital images. Using case studies and exercises, this innovative study poses challenging questions, such as: How do individuals and organisations exert influence to build communities and networks? What role do media play in communicating persuasive messages? How do we use recent discoveries in cognitive science to promote a cause, advocate social change or market ideas and products? How do we defend ourselves against manipulation and undue influence, and when does persuasion turn into propaganda?

Marshall Soules is the founder and former Chair of the Media Studies Department at Vancouver Island University. In 2011, he was awarded an Outstanding Service Award at VIU for his contributions to the field of Communications and Media Studies. Previous publications reflect his interest in performance, improvisation, digital media, and street art.