00:01Before we begin our video, a short note.
00:04We'll be glad if you like, comment, and share our content.
00:07We are the largest left-wing civic association in Slovakia,
00:11and we want to keep growing.
00:13New videos are published Fridays.
00:15If you like what we do, you can support us financially and become our members.
00:20More information is available on our website,
00:23and most importantly, don't forget to subscribe to our channel.
00:27How does capitalist propaganda work?
00:30Let us begin with the most famous critic of capitalism, Karl Marx.
00:35Marx divided society into the base, basis, and the superstructure, uberbau.
00:42While the base represents the economic system, the forces of production,
00:46and relations of production, the superstructure includes all ideological
00:51and institutional elements that arise from this economic system
00:55and help to maintain it.
00:57What constitutes the superstructure?
00:59The superstructure encompasses a wide range of social institutions, ideas,
01:05and cultural phenomena, such as the state and law, the political system,
01:10religion, education, media and culture, philosophy and ideology, and so on.
01:16How does the superstructure function?
01:18According to Marx, the superstructure is not autonomous.
01:22Its function is to legitimize and reinforce the existing economic system,
01:27that is, the class structure.
01:29The ruling class controls the superstructure and uses it to maintain its position.
01:34At the same time, the superstructure contributes to the formation of so-called false consciousness,
01:40the belief of the working class that the existing system is natural, just, or unchangeable.
01:48Examples in practice.
01:50First example, feudal society.
01:52The base.
01:53The economy is based on feudal land ownership,
01:56where the nobility owns the land and peasants or serfs cultivate it.
02:01The superstructure, monarchy, and the church legitimize the feudal order.
02:06The king rules by divine will.
02:09The church teaches that the social order is ordained by God.
02:12Law and customs protect the hereditary privileges of the nobility.
02:16Second example, capitalist society.
02:19The base.
02:21Production is organized on the principle of private ownership,
02:24where capitalists own factories and workers sell their labor power.
02:29The superstructure, law, and the state protect private property
02:33and suppress movements seeking to change the system.
02:37The education system trains people in discipline and obedience
02:41and prepares them for their roles as workers and citizens.
02:44Media and culture celebrate individualism, entrepreneurship, and consumer lifestyles,
02:50thereby reinforcing the status quo.
02:53Religion and ideology may divert attention from class contradictions
02:58and offer spiritual consolation instead of material change.
03:02Third example, propaganda and modern media in the 20th and 21st centuries.
03:08Media, as part of the superstructure, play a key role in shaping how society perceives economic inequalities.
03:15Political debates in the media are often framed to emphasize the American dream,
03:20individual success, and the free market.
03:23Films and popular culture frequently portray wealth as the result of hard work
03:28and poverty as a personal failure, thus diverting attention from systemic factors.
03:35Educational systems, in turn, teach history and economics in ways that do not emphasize class conflict
03:42or the role of capitalism in deepening inequalities.
03:46Marx did not view the relationship between the base and the superstructure as entirely one-sided.
03:52Although the superstructure arises from the base, it can also act back upon it.
03:58For example, revolutionary ideologies, political movements, or cultural changes can bring about transformations of the economic system.
04:07However, according to Marx, such changes occur only when economic conditions have matured for revolutionary transformation.
04:16The person who significantly refined modern capitalist propaganda was Edward Bernays, the nephew of Sigmund Freud.
04:24He was one of the pioneers of public relations.
04:27He used insights from his uncle's psychology and from mass communication to shape public opinion in favor of large corporations and government interests.
04:37One of his most famous cases was the introduction of smoking among women in the 1920s.
04:44Smoking in public was considered inappropriate for women, which limited the tobacco industry.
04:50The Lucky Strike Company therefore hired Bernays to change this attitude.
04:54After consulting psychoanalysts, he came up with the idea of linking cigarettes to women's emancipation.
05:01During an Easter parade in New York, he organized an event in which prearranged women lit cigarettes and called them Torches of Freedom.
05:10The media widely covered the event, and cigarettes began to be perceived as a symbol of independence and gender equality, leading to increased sales.
05:19Bernays also worked on campaigns in favor of large corporations and the U.S. government.
05:25His role in propaganda against the Guatemalan government in the 1950s was particularly significant when he worked for the United Fruit Company, now Chiquita.
05:36When the Guatemalan government began promoting land reforms that threatened the company's interests, Bernays initiated a media campaign in the United States portraying the country as a communist threat.
05:49This pressure contributed to the decision of the U.S. government and the CIA to support a coup that led to the overthrow of the Guatemalan president and the installation of a pro-American regime.
06:01Through his methods, Bernays demonstrated that public opinion can be shaped not through direct arguments, but through the targeted manipulation of symbols, emotions, and media.
06:12His approach laid the foundations of modern public relations and propaganda.
06:18Before we end our video, a short note.
06:23We'll be glad if you like, comment, and share our content.
06:27We are the largest left-wing civic association in Slovakia, and we want to keep growing.
06:33New videos are published Fridays.
06:35If you like what we do, you can support us financially and become our members.
06:40More information is available on our website.
06:43And most importantly, don't forget to subscribe to our channel.
06:46Thanks for watching.
