Page 144 - Šolsko polje, XXVIII, 2017, no. 3-4: Education and the American Dream, ed. Mitja Sardoč
P. 144
šolsko polje, letnik xxviii, številka 3–4
the war effort as a »plain publicity, a vast enterprise in salesmanship, the
world’s greatest adventure in advertising« (Creel, 1920: p. 4). When Ber-
nays (1952) defines Public Relations as a method of adjusting dependants
to the environment on which they depend, and assists his corporate cli-
ents in selling their interest as public, he starts with the question: »How
can American business successfully sell its definition of the American way
of life to the American people« (Bernays, 1952: p. 337). Quite expected-
ly that this kind of advertising could never be explicit as advertising, but
is carried out disguised in many forms and perhaps perfected itself in the
cultural industry.
Conclusion
What kind of life should become the American way of life, considering
its nature of a collective imagination that can be intentionally produced
in massive quantities rather than belong to individual spontaneity? An
arranged one that is sold as a perfected worldview in which the path to
someone’s interests, fulfilment and self-realization are presented (prom-
ised) in such a way to coincide with perfect harmony with the commands
and demands of a productive and consumerist society. Finally, this over-
lapping of interests ceases to be only imaginary in the exact moment when
the imposed regulations of conduct are bought and turned into someone’s
way of life, when the social interest, as Arendt (1996) explains it, starts to
appear as the only particular and common affair left. Regardless of wheth-
er or not the American dream is materialised or remains simply a dream
that sustains hope, it unfolds at a certain cost, that of conforming some-
one’s own existence into a household kind of serving life dedicated to
boundless accumulation and acquisition. Modern forms of conforming
and self-conforming do not take place due to any political ideology, but
represent a perfected form of servitude to the impersonal despotical reign
of the social interest that unfolds in front of us as if it was unquestionable,
as if its processes were unstoppable.
Bibliography
Anders, G. (2012) L’uomo è antiquato, vol. II. Torino: Bollati Boringhieri.
Anders, G. (2014) L’uomo è antiquato, vol. I. Torino: Bollati Boringhieri.
Arendt, H. (1996) Vita Activa. Ljubljana: Krt.
Arendt, H. (2006) On Revolution. New York: Penguin Books.
Aristotel (2010) Politika. Ljubljana: GV Založba.
Bernays, E. L. (1928) Propaganda. New York. Horace Liveright.
142
the war effort as a »plain publicity, a vast enterprise in salesmanship, the
world’s greatest adventure in advertising« (Creel, 1920: p. 4). When Ber-
nays (1952) defines Public Relations as a method of adjusting dependants
to the environment on which they depend, and assists his corporate cli-
ents in selling their interest as public, he starts with the question: »How
can American business successfully sell its definition of the American way
of life to the American people« (Bernays, 1952: p. 337). Quite expected-
ly that this kind of advertising could never be explicit as advertising, but
is carried out disguised in many forms and perhaps perfected itself in the
cultural industry.
Conclusion
What kind of life should become the American way of life, considering
its nature of a collective imagination that can be intentionally produced
in massive quantities rather than belong to individual spontaneity? An
arranged one that is sold as a perfected worldview in which the path to
someone’s interests, fulfilment and self-realization are presented (prom-
ised) in such a way to coincide with perfect harmony with the commands
and demands of a productive and consumerist society. Finally, this over-
lapping of interests ceases to be only imaginary in the exact moment when
the imposed regulations of conduct are bought and turned into someone’s
way of life, when the social interest, as Arendt (1996) explains it, starts to
appear as the only particular and common affair left. Regardless of wheth-
er or not the American dream is materialised or remains simply a dream
that sustains hope, it unfolds at a certain cost, that of conforming some-
one’s own existence into a household kind of serving life dedicated to
boundless accumulation and acquisition. Modern forms of conforming
and self-conforming do not take place due to any political ideology, but
represent a perfected form of servitude to the impersonal despotical reign
of the social interest that unfolds in front of us as if it was unquestionable,
as if its processes were unstoppable.
Bibliography
Anders, G. (2012) L’uomo è antiquato, vol. II. Torino: Bollati Boringhieri.
Anders, G. (2014) L’uomo è antiquato, vol. I. Torino: Bollati Boringhieri.
Arendt, H. (1996) Vita Activa. Ljubljana: Krt.
Arendt, H. (2006) On Revolution. New York: Penguin Books.
Aristotel (2010) Politika. Ljubljana: GV Založba.
Bernays, E. L. (1928) Propaganda. New York. Horace Liveright.
142
