Vance Packard, born
May 22,
1914, died
December 12,
1996 (aged 82), was an American journalist,
social critic, and author.
[edit]
Life and career
He was born in
Granville Summit, Pennsylvania to parents Philip
J. Packard and Mabel Case Packard. Between 1920-32
he attended local public schools in
State College, Pennsylvania where his father
managed a farm owned by
Pennsylvania State University (Penn State). In
1932 he entered Penn State, majoring in English. He
graduated in 1936, and worked briefly for the local
newspaper, the
Centre Daily Times. He earned his master's
degree at the
Columbia University Graduate School of
Journalism in 1937. That year, he joined the
Boston Daily Record as a staff reporter and
a year later, he married Virginia Matthews.
About 1940, he became a reporter for the
Associated Press and in 1942, joined the staff
of
American magazine as a section editor, later
becoming a staff writer. American closed in
July, 1956, and Packard moved over to
Collier's where he worked as a writer.
Collier's, too, closed by the end of 1956, and
he is able to devote his full energies to books. In
1957, The Hidden Persuaders was published and
received national attention. The book launched
Packard's career as a social critic and full-time
lecturer and book author. In 1961 he was named a
Distinguished
Alumnus of Penn State University. He died in
1996 at his summer house on
Martha's Vineyard in
Massachusetts.
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The Hidden Persuaders
Vance Packard's book
The Hidden
Persuaders, about media manipulation
in the 1950s was a forerunner of pop
sociology. It sold more than a million
copies.
His million-selling book The Hidden Persuaders,
about
media manipulation of the
populace in the 1950s was a forerunner of pop
sociology.
In The Hidden Persuaders, first published
in 1957, Packard explores the use of consumer
motivational research and other psychological
techniques, including depth psychology and
subliminal tactics, by advertisers to manipulate
expectations and induce desire for products,
particularly in the American postwar era. It also
explores the manipulative techniques of promoting
politicians to the electorate. The book questions
the morality of using these techniques.
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Publications
- 1946 How to Pick a Mate - a guide
co-authored with the head of the Penn State
marriage counseling service
- 1950 Animal IQ - a popular paperback
on
animal intelligence
- 1957 The Hidden Persuaders - on the
advertising industry - the first of a
popular series of books on sociology topics (ISBN
0-671-53149-2)
- 1959 The Status Seekers - describing
American social stratification and behavior
- 1960 The Waste Makers - criticizes
planned obsolescence describing the impact
of American productivity, especially on the
national character
- 1962 The Pyramid Climbers - describes
the changing impact of American enterprise on
managers, the structured lives of corporate
executives and the conformity they need to
advance in the hierarchy
- 1964 The Naked Society - on the
threats to
privacy posed by new technologies such as
computerized filing, modern
surveillance techniques and methods for
influencing human
behavior
- 1968 The Sexual Wilderness - on the
sexual revolution of the 1960s and changes
in male-female relationships
- 1972 A Nation of Strangers - about
the attrition of communal structure through
frequent geographical transfers of corporate
executives
- 1977 The People Shapers - on the use
of psychological & biological testing and
experimentation to manipulate human behavior
- 1983 Our Endangered Children -
discusses growing up in a changing world,
warning that American preoccupation with money,
power, status, and sex, ignored the needs of
future generations
- 1989 Ultra Rich: How Much Is Too Much?
- examines the lives of thirty American
multimillionaires and their extravagances.
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External links
