A TRIBAL CALL TO ARMS: PROPAGANDA AND WHAT PVE CAN LEARN FROM ANTHROPOLOGY, PSYCHOLOGY AND NEUROSCIE

[Judi Lynn]

A TRIBAL CALL TO ARMS: PROPAGANDA AND WHAT PVE CAN LEARN FROM ANTHROPOLOGY, PSYCHOLOGY AND NEUROSCIENCE
June 6, 2018

By Alexander Ritzmann

The Propaganda Process

Is online propaganda really effective? How can it be countered? And what can practitioners of Preventing Violent Extremism (PVE) and policymakers learn from the research findings of other relevant disciplines, such as anthropology, psychology and neuroscience?

Propaganda, understood here as the strategic communication of ideas aiming at manipulating specific target audiences for an extremist cause, generally has three main components. First, it provides a diagnosis of “what is wrong”. Secondly, a prognosis of “what needs to be done”. Thirdly, a rationale – “who should do it and why” (Wilson 1973).

The self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS), for example, claims that Islam and Sunni Muslims are under attack (diagnosis), that a Caliphate needs to be created (prognosis), and that YOU need to help in any way you can (rationale).

Right wing movements use the same approach. In their diagnosis, migration and corrupt elites are a threat to the white or national identity. The prognosis is that only homogeneous societies with high walls can ensure survival. Then they ask their target audiences to join the fight in any way they can.

More:
http://www.voxpol.eu/a-tribal-call-to-arms-propaganda-and-what-pve-can-learn-from-anthropology-psychology-and-neuroscience/