Jason Stanley, “How Propaganda Works” (Princeton UP, 2015)
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What is the central thesis of Jason Stanley’s book *How Propaganda Works*?
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Welcome to the New Books and Philosophy channel of the New Books Network. My name is Robert Talise. I'm Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University. I co host the channel with Carrie Figner, and Carrie is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Iowa. Today, my guest is Professor Jason Stanley. His new book is titled How Propaganda Works. And it's about to be published by Princeton University Press. Stanley is professor of philosophy at Yale University. Propaganda is the name of a familiar collection of phenomena, and examples of propaganda are easy to identify, especially when one looks at the output of totalitarian states. In those cases, language and imagery are deployed by the state for the purpose of shaping mass opinion or
forming group allegiances, constructing a world view, and securing compliance. It's undeniable though that propaganda is employed by liberal democratic states as well. But it's also undeniable that the use of propaganda there is especially problematic, as propaganda looks incompatible with the democratic ideals of equality and autonomous self government. It's surprising then that the topic of propaganda is relatively under theorized in contemporary political philosophy. In How Propaganda Works, Jason Stanley develops an original theory of propaganda, according to which propaganda is the deployment of an ideal against itself. Along the way, Stanley distinguishes various kinds of propaganda, and he explores the connections between propaganda, ideology, stereotypes, and groups identi and group identities.
Stanley's central thesis is that propaganda poses an epistemological problem for democracy, as propaganda is the vehicle by which false beliefs are disseminated and opportunities for knowledge are closed. How propaganda works makes an important contribution to political philosophy. So let's turn to the interview. Hello, Jason Stanley. Hello, Bob. How are you doing today? Great. Well it's good to have you on New Books in Philosophy.
Thank you. Thank you for having me.
And thank you, listeners, uh, for tuning into the podcast. My guest today is Jason Stanley, and we'll be talking about his new book, How Propaganda Works. which is about to be published with Princeton University Press. Now, um, Jason's book takes up a range of familiar But it seems to me surprisingly under theorized phenomena. Uh surrounding our beliefs about moral, social and political matters that seem oddly stubborn and prevalent, but s at the same time sort of subliminal and not easily accessed and not commonly reflected on. Um Now I think one of the really interesting features of the book Is um that Jason brings to these issues Um his longstanding, you know, uh work on uh philosophy of language and epistemology.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the central thesis of Jason Stanley’s book *How Propaganda Works*?
0:00–8:12
2
How does Stanley define propaganda as the deployment of an ideal against itself?
8:12–15:10
3
How does the book connect propaganda, ideology, and group identities?
15:10–17:06
4
What are the two main kinds of propaganda Stanley distinguishes?
17:06–22:14
5
How do flawed ideologies create epistemic barriers in liberal democracies?
22:14–25:05
6
What personal experiences led Stanley to focus on propaganda and mass incarceration?
25:05–1:05:11
Speakers
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