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Telling Propaganda from Legitimate Political Persuasion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2023

Amelia Godber Open the ORCID record for Amelia Godber [Opens in a new window]  and
Gloria Origgi
Amelia Godber*
Affiliation:
l’École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales and the Institut Jean Nicod (ENS-PLS-EHESS), Paris, France
Gloria Origgi
Affiliation:
l’École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales and the Institut Jean Nicod (ENS-PLS-EHESS), Paris, France
*
*Corresponding author. Email: amelia.godber@mail.mcgill.ca
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Abstract

How does propaganda differ from the legitimate persuasive practices that animate a healthy democracy? The question is especially salient as digital technologies facilitate new modes of political persuasion and the public square saturates with information factual and fabricated alike. In answer, we propose a typology based on the rhetorical strategies that propaganda and its legitimate counterpart each employ. We argue that the point of contrast between the phenomena turns on two key features: whether the rhetorical strategy sufficiently engages our deliberative capacities, and whether it runs counter to our epistemic interests. While in practice the boundary between the concepts is not always sharp, the account identifies a set of conceptual tools that help better frame and come to grips with propaganda and legitimate political persuasion in an information-dense and increasingly complex media landscape.

Keywords

Propagandapolitical persuasionlegitimacypublic discourse
Type
Article
Information
Episteme , Volume 20 , Issue 3 , September 2023 , pp. 778 - 797
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press

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