Background
Harold Dwight Lasswell was born in Donnellson, Illinois, to Anna Prather, a schoolteacher, and Linden Downey Lasswell, a Presbyterian minister.
(Excerpt from The Political Writings of Harold D. Lasswell...)
Excerpt from The Political Writings of Harold D. Lasswell: Psychopathology and Politics; Politics: Who Gets What, When, How; Democratic Character When we contemplate the ebb and flow of public life, it is possible to make sense Of it as marking the rise or fall Of social classes, or skill groups, or attitude groups, or personality types. If we think of politics from a manipulative standpoint, it is appropriate to consider the strategy and tactics of handling violence, goods, symbols, and practices. The succinct and abundant examples used in the Politics made it comprehensible to students and laymen alike. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
https://www.amazon.com/Political-Writings-Harold-Lasswell-Psychopathology/dp/0259459410?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=0259459410
(Excerpt from The Future of Political Science About the P...)
Excerpt from The Future of Political Science About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
https://www.amazon.com/Future-Political-Science-Classic-Reprint/dp/0259939056?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=0259939056
(Political Symbol Series, No. 1.)
Political Symbol Series, No. 1.
https://www.amazon.com/Continental-Security-American-Democracy-Abundance/dp/125857490X?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=125857490X
https://www.amazon.com/World-Revolutionary-Elites-Ideological-Comparative/dp/0313225729?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=0313225729
( “A trailblazing study that has mapped out new ways of u...)
“A trailblazing study that has mapped out new ways of understanding politicians and power, democracy and leadership, political systems and political personality―by the foremost intellect in American political science.” ―James MacGregor Burns Power is an interpersonal situation: those who hold power depend on a continuing stream of empowering responses. Are there ”born leaders” and “born followers”? Is there a basic political type, or a certain kind of personality that seeks power? What implications do the motives for getting and using power have for democratic forms of government? In the light of recurrent challenges to democracy, and growing interest in psychological factors in those who govern, Harold D. Lasswell’s classic study offers a wide-ranging introduction to these vital concerns.
https://www.amazon.com/Power-Personality-Norton-Library-N829/dp/0393008290?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=0393008290
("Professor Lasswell has made a most important contributio...)
"Professor Lasswell has made a most important contribution to the study of war. Basing his essay upon the thesis that modern war must be fought on three fronts, the military, the economic and the propagandist, he has given a comprehensive account of the direction of the third front in the World War. His bibliography is extensive, including more than a hundred books and articles of recent date upon the specific propaganda of the World War, or in general discussion of public opinion inspired by it." (New Republic, 1927) Harold D. Lasswell's thesis offers a general theory of the strategy and role of propaganda within a military campaign. While the examples focus on the First World War, the principles and patterns carry over to modern day warfare, politics, business, and social movements. We undergo a constant barrage of overt and covert propaganda, which can only be effectively countered by recognizing it and understanding its function. This well-written book is both objective and discerning while explaining how and why propaganda works. This reprint includes two supplemental papers, "Propaganda behind the lines," by Maj. C. J. C. Street, and "Control of propaganda as a psychological problem," by Prof. Edward K. Strong, Jr., both referenced in Lasswell's text.
https://www.amazon.com/Propaganda-Technique-World-Supplemental-Material/dp/1616463112?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=1616463112
Harold Dwight Lasswell was born in Donnellson, Illinois, to Anna Prather, a schoolteacher, and Linden Downey Lasswell, a Presbyterian minister.
Upon graduation from Decatur High School as class valedictorian at age sixteen, Lasswell enrolled on a scholarship at the University of Chicago, where he received a B. A. in philosophy. He undertook extensive postgraduate training at the universities of London, Geneva, Paris, and Berlin while working on his doctoral dissertation from 1923 to 1925. Lasswell completed his Ph. D. in 1926 under the direction of Charles Merriam, a pioneer in the behavioral approach to the study of politics at the University of Chicago.
Lasswell worked as a teaching assistant from 1922 to 1924 and instructor from 1924 to 1927 at the University of Chicago. While he was in Europe, he focused on the still relatively novel works of Sigmund Freud and underwent psychoanalysis as a patient of Theodore Reik's, one of Freud's foremost disciples. Lasswell's doctoral dissertation was published in 1927 as Propaganda Technique in the World War and is still recognized as a seminal study on the psychological foundations of communication theory. Lasswell spent the bulk of his professional career as a professor of political science at the University of Chicago from 1922 to 1938 and as a professor of law and political science at Yale University from 1946 to 1971.
During the period 1939-1945, he served as the director of the War Communication Research Division at the Library of Congress. During his stay in Washington, Lasswell began to attract national attention for his bold theories on the use of psychoanalysis for the study and practice of politics. In particular, his application of orthodox Freudian methods to the study of world leaders led to his successful predictions of the rise of totalitarian dictatorships throughout the world.
Lasswell established himself as a pioneering scholar in the field of political science with the publication of two seminal works: Psychopathology and Politics (1930) and World Politics and Personal Insecurity (1935). In both studies, he relied upon classical Freudian precepts to contend that world political leaders' actions and belief systems were most clearly understood and predictable in the context of a psychoanalysis of each leader and that psychoanalytical methods would revolutionize not only the study of politics but also the nature of politics itself in the twentieth century. According to Lasswell, psychoanalysis provided the first truly "scientific" basis for politics and would result in its transformation throughout the globe by using therapeutic methods of "preventive politics" to eliminate rather than perpetuate the causes of political conflict. For many, his propositions as a whole led to the "undemocratic" conclusion that political life and behavior were predictable and controllable through a supposedly infallible Freudian methodology.
Overlooked by many of his critics was Lasswell's revisionary breakthrough that political behavior was heavily influenced by the drives of the unconscious and that politics and individual personality were inseparably bound together. Lasswell boldly contended that the political quest for power by many world leaders emerged from their attempts to overcome low self-esteem. He extended his approach to the analysis of entire political systems and established a continuum in which contrasting governmental systems were aligned with a matching personality type for citizens of each distinct regime (in this context Nazism bespoke psychological disorder, and western democracy represented well-adjusted personalities).
Despite the appearance of these two monumental works, Lasswell's unique approach to the study of politics largely was ignored by his professional peers. Indeed, from 1937 to 1950 he did not write one article in a journal of political science. Instead, Lasswell's prolific output of scholarly research found an audience among psychiatrists. He continued to advance the psychoanalytical study of politics in psychology journals. In part, his rejection by his peers in political science was attributable to his laborious prose style, a self-contained language of complex nuances and meanings.
Beginning in the 1950's, however, Lasswell began to receive the belated recognition of political scientists. As a younger generation of scholars entered the field after World War II, Lasswell's work gained a broader professional acceptance, especially his theories on the psychological impact of political symbolism upon a citizenry. His full acceptance by his profession was formally acknowledged by his election as president of the American Political Science Association in 1955.
Throughout the 1960's, Lasswell continued to teach at Yale University and write an impressive body of studies on political value systems. In 1971 he retired from Yale to accept an appointment as a distinguished professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. In 1975 he retired from active teaching to work as the cochairman and later president of the Policy Sciences Center in New York City to complete his research on the topic of human rights. Four studies on this theme were published posthumously. He died at Roosevelt Hospital in New York City.
( “A trailblazing study that has mapped out new ways of u...)
(Excerpt from The Future of Political Science About the P...)
("Professor Lasswell has made a most important contributio...)
(Excerpt from The Political Writings of Harold D. Lasswell...)
(Book by Lasswell, Harold Dwight)
(Political Symbol Series, No. 1.)