In this provocative study, Christopher Simpson demonstrates how the government-funded psychological warfare programs of the Cold War years underwrote the academic studies that formed the basis for much of modern communication research. U.S. psychological warfare programs in the Philippines, Middle East and Southeast Asia became essential in the creation and survival of what is widely considered to be mainstream mass communication studies. They aided in forming the widely held preconceptions that persist today in communication studies, public opinion research, and in the types of counterinsurgency operations that are today known as "public diplomacy" and "low intensity conflict." Science of Coercion: Communication Research and Psychological Warfare, 1945-1960 provides the first thorough examination of the role of the CIA, Pentagon, and other U.S. security agencies in the evolution of modern communication studies. Christopher Simpson contends that it is unlikely that communication research could have emerged in its present form without regular transfusions of money from U.S. military, intelligence, and propaganda agencies during the Cold War. These agencies saw mass communication as an instrument for persuading or dominating targeted groups in the United States and abroad; as a tool for improving military operations; and perhaps most fundamentally, as a means to extend U.S. influence more widely than ever before at a relatively modest cost. Communication research, in turn, became for a time the preferred method for testing and developing such techniques. Science of Coercion outlines the history of U.S. psychological warfare between 1945 and 1960, discussing the underlying theories, activities, and administrative structure of this type of communication enterprise. In the process, Simpson documents the role played by prominent mass communication researchers including Wilbur Schramm, Ithiel de Sola Pool, Samuel Stouffer, and Paul Lazarsfield to demonstrate the links From F. Potter - Choice: The evolution of mass communication techniques that extended US influence worldwide during the Cold War is examined thoroughly in this well-documented exposition. Simpson reveals the roles played by US security agencies before 1960 to influence and nourish communications research. . . . The military and corporate priorities that dictated the development of this new field are a chilling reminder that government financial support can be used to stimulate research into the control of thought within a democratic society. Recently released classified documents add valuable insights into the history of and the motives for this work. The extensive documentation and references as well as a practical index all aid scholarly inquiry. Upper-division undergraduate through professional. A reader from N. America,
October 22, 1998
Simpson provides extensive documentation for his argument: there are only 115 pages of text and more than 60 pages of notes. Given that it is strictly about the US experience, it would be nice to have a comparison with experiences in other countries. His study provides a worrying reminder about the extent to which standard ideas in many fields of research may be shaped to serve the interests of powerful interest groups and elite academics.
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