The Propaganda Society ─ Promotional Culture and Politics in Global Context

The Propaganda Society analyzes the rapid expansion of propaganda and promotional activities in the leading «post-industrial» states under the regime of neoliberalism. With the outsourcing of manufacturing, these states have converted to service, selling, and speculative economies, with a concurrent rapid growth of advertising, marketing, public relations, sales management, branding, and other promotional enterprises. Aided by digital technologies and the removal – «deregulation» – of political, legal, administrative, and moral barriers to state and corporate expansion on a global scale, a group of dominant political and commercial actors have brought about a common discourse and convergent set of practices rooted in sophisticated and unprecedented levels of propaganda and promotion. Written by leading scholars in the field, each of the eighteen chapters in this book discuss the ways in which elite uses of propaganda have radically transformed media and information systems, political and public culture, the conduct of war and foreign relations, and the overall behavior of the state.

Gerald Sussman is Professor of Urban Studies and Communication at Portland State University, where he teaches graduate courses in international community development, political economy, political communication, and media studies. His latest book is Branding Democracy: U.S. Regime Change in Post-Soviet Eastern Europe (Peter Lang, 2010). He is also the author of Global Electioneering: Campaign Consulting, Communications, and Corporate Financing (2005) and author or editor of three other books. Professor Sussman serves on a number of academic journal editorial boards as well as the Community Advisory Board of Portland, Oregon’s public broadcasting station, KOPB.