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NASSP Bulletin
DOI: 10.1177/019263658607049412
1986; 70; 52 NASSP Bulletin
Edward L. Bernays
Efforts
The Engineering of Consent: An Organized Approach To PR
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52
The
Engineering
of Consent:
An
Organized Approach
To PR Efforts
Outlined here is an
eight-step plan
for
achieving your public
relations
goals.
Among
the writers
many
credits is
Crystallizing
Public
Opinion, which-although
written in 1923—is still used
in
journalism
and
public
relations courses
today.
BY EDWARD L. BERNAYS
EDWARD L. BERNAYS, called the "Father of
Public
Relations,"
has
provided public
rela-
tions counsel to Enrico
Caruso,
Woodrow
Wilson,
and Alexander Graham
Bell,
among
many
others.
SCHOOL
PRINCIPALS
play a key
role in
ensuring
that this nation will
remain a
democracy.
It is
vitally
important
for our democratic leaders-
of whom our school
principals
are
among
the most
important-to
know
how to deal with the
public, upon
whom
everything
in a democratic
society
de-
pends.
Public relations is that field of
applied
social science which deals with the rela-
tions of a unit in our
society
to the
pub-
lics
upon
which that unit
depends.
The
public
schools of this
country depend
on
the voter and the
taxpayer, upon public
opinion,
and on the
appointed
or elected
individuals
serving
on school boards.
The
approach
I have used in
dealing
with
public
relations
problems-and
I
have been in
public
relations work since
1913-I now call the
engineering
of
consent. In 1946 I wrote a
piece by
that
title for the Annals
of
Political and
Social Science. I called it that because
the consent of the
public
is basic to
any
successful
activity.
I use the word
engi-
neering
to
emphasize
that an
organized
approach
is essential to
cope
with the
myriad
of other
appeals
the
public
is
subjected
to.
The
engineering
of consent is made
up
of
eight steps
that the
principal
must
work out before
initiating
an
activity.
1. Determine
your goal.
You
may
have
many goals
or one
goal
in mind in
plan-
ning your campaign.
Determine
your
goal
and think of it in as
simple
terms
as,
&dquo;Fifty
four
forty
or
fight,&dquo;
or &dquo;Out
of the trenches
by
Christmas,&dquo;
or as the
Fourteen Points of Woodrow Wilson.
2. Research
your publics.
Your re-
search
may
be conducted
by
an
organi-
commercial use or unauthorized distribution.
1986 National Association of Secondary School Principals. All rights reserved. Not for
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53
zation
engaged by you
for the
purpose.
Or,
you
can do the research
yourself.
You can
get
a book at
any good
li-
brary
on how to conduct
polls
to deter-
mine
public
attitudes. After
you
have
done the
reading you
can make
your
decision on the
type
of research to use.
You
might
involve
sociology
students in
making telephone polls
to the audience
in
question.
Polls
may
also be made on a
sampling
basis
by
letter or
by personal
visits,
either on a fair
sampling
of the
publics
in
question,
or to
group
leaders
who know their
publics,
or even to
opin-
ion molders who know the
publics
in
question.
These
polls
will
give you
a clear
pic-
ture of the three activities
you
will be
able to
carry
out after
you
have made the
polls.
You can
intensify
favorable atti-
tudes,
you
can convert
people
to
your
goal,
and
you
can
negate negative
atti-
tudes.
You can use authorities to
bring
about
changes
of attitude. You can use reason
with individuals and
groups
who will
accept
reason. You can use
persuasion
with those who will
respond
to that
ap-
proach,
and
you
can use tradition with
those who will
respond
to tradition in
the formulation of their
opinions.
3.
Modify your goal if necessary.
If
your
research discloses that it is
impos-
sible to reach
your goal, you may
mod-
ify
it to meet the realities the
polls
have
revealed.
4. Plan
your strategy.
I use this term in
the sense used
by military strategists-
with what
strengths
and
timing you
will
proceed
toward
your goals.
I call the
elements
you
have to deal with in de-
termining strategies
the four Ms.
They
are
mindpower, manpower,
mechanics,
and
money.
The heart of the
problem
lies in
determining
the
proportions
in
which
you
will need to use
your
re-
sources.
5. Establish
your organization.
The or-
ganization you
will need to
carry
out
your campaign
will
depend
on how
broad
your objectives
are. Your school
public
relations
professional
can do a
great
deal of the work. But if
you
are
dealing
with a vital broad
problem
that
takes more time and effort than one or
two
people
can
handle,
they
will need
reinforcements. Such resources need not
be
expensive,
however. Often
you
can
find volunteers or in-kind
support
among
those who
sympathize
with
your
efforts.
6.
Identify
themes and
appeals.
Your
research should have shown
you
what
themes and
appeals
to use to influence
your public.
A
good psychology
book
will
give you
all kinds of
appeals
to use.
A
very
effective
approach
is to
give
supporters
the moral
equivalent
of im-
mortality.
Place their names on a
plaque
at the entrance to the school and have a
ceremony
at which
you
unveil the
plaque
to the
public.
Be sure to invite
the local
press
and radio and TV stations
in
your locality.
Or,
use the
symposium
technique.
Ask
opinion
leaders for
50-word statements of
support
for
your
project,
and release the statements to the
media.
7. Determine
timing
and
plan
tactics.
Support
for
your goal
can be
developed
through
a series of acts that build
public
support
and lead to a final
culminating
event.
Or,
the tactics could consist of a con-
tinuing
effort of
teaching
the
public
concerned. This can then be dramatized
at the end of a
campaign by
an overt
action such as a luncheon or
dinner,
with
participation by
names that make
news or letters or
telegrams
from news-
commercial use or unauthorized distribution.
1986 National Association of Secondary School Principals. All rights reserved. Not for
by Farte Gheorghe Ilie on February 25, 2007 http://bul.sagepub.com Downloaded from
54
worthy
individuals in
support
of the
issue.
Any good
text on
public
relations will
provide
additional ideas.
8. Create a
budget.
For most
projects
of the kind discussed no
great
amounts
of
money
are needed. The
polling
or
opinion appraisals
can be made
by
the
originating
institution. Advice can often
be obtained from a
public opinion expert
because of the
public
interest involved.
Or,
a
professor
of
public opinion
at a
nearby university
can be invited to as-
sist.
Additional
expenditures
are
minimal,
except
for
postage, duplicating,
and,
of
course,
the
salary
of the
public
relations
professional
now on the staff of most
school
systems throughout
the
country.
The returns from such a
plan
as I have
outlined often
surprise
those who have
been invited to initiate
them,
and often
they accomplish
what could not have
been
accomplished
in
any
other
way.
Whats
Wrong
with Our Schools?
The
publics
attitudes about what is
wrong
with American schools have
changed
dramatically
in several areas
during
the
past
four
years, according
to the
Gallup
Poll.
For
example,
in
1981,
approximately
15
percent
of those
responding
indicated
that
drugs
are a
major problem.
In
1986,
almost 30
percent
cited it as one of their
biggest
concerns.
In
1982,
lack of
proper
financial
support
was a
problem
cited
by
almost 25
percent
of the
respondents.
That concern
dropped during
the next three
years,
with
approximately
10
percent citing
it as a
problem
in 1985 and 15
percent
in 1986.
As an indication of the
times,
almost 15
percent
of the
respondents
said that
integration/busing
was a
problem
in
1981,
while less than 4
percent
cited it as a
problem
in 1986.
commercial use or unauthorized distribution.
1986 National Association of Secondary School Principals. All rights reserved. Not for
by Farte Gheorghe Ilie on February 25, 2007 http://bul.sagepub.com Downloaded from