Jacques Ellul

Jacques Ellul was a professor of history and the Sociology of Institutions on the Faculty of Law and Economic Sciences at the University of Bordeaux. He wrote 58 books and more than a thousand articles over his career, many of which discussed propaganda, the influence of technology on society, and also the correlation between religion and politics. The central theme of Ellul’s work proved to be the threat to human freedom and religion shaped by modern technology. Ellul’s continual concern was

Jacque Ellul is a very interesting philosophical thinker that dives into very intricate areas that other sociologist probably would not have imagine. No doubt, he is described as “very stern thinker, and a very chilling thinker” (Doug Hill, 2012). He is the kind of thinker that would not just accept thinks because society and scientists consider it right even if there is empirical evidence to support it. It is amazing to read how he drives through abstract topic like propaganda. He displays a meticulous

and theologian, Jacques Ellul (1912–1994), who in his 1954 work, The Technological Society (Ellul, The Technological Society, 1964), had argued that technology had taken a life of its own that had escaped our control (Hill, 2012). Indeed, Ellul was ahead of his times in more than one ways; for example, in his Propaganda (Ellul, Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes, 1965) he anticipated the famous Kruger-Dunning paper that was published three decades later. In this work, Ellul argued that the

countless definitions of what propaganda is, and what it entails, and conversely what it is not, and what it does not entail. As Jacques Ellul covers in the preface of his book Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes, even expert theorists on propaganda disagree on what propaganda is. Thus, it would not be possible to simply present a single definition. Thus, Ellul chooses to not give a particular definition of propaganda, instead focusing on analyzing the characteristics of propaganda of the

This article by Jacques Ellul on Techniques is very fascinating. The writer discusses of machines and its relationship with technique which has been described nicely. Technique is a way of doing something that fulfills a goal or an aim, in an organized manner. It is an art to do the work in a very meaningful and efficient way to reach the best results. Early civilizations have seen the man growing up in many aspects, this approach and ability to invent new things is called ‘technique’. The term

Jacques Ellul once quoted, “Modern technology has become a total phenomenon for civilization, the defining force of a new social order in which an efficiency is no longer an option but a necessity imposed on all human activity.” How many lives have been saved since the technology for health situations was invented? This question should give a general  idea of how important and different lives would be without the use of technology. Mechanization has changed and improved throughout these past years

Hitler's Powerful Leadership   The setting was perfect as the people of Germany were primed and ready for any leader that would tickle their ears with what they were wanting to hear. World War I was over (#4) and the people of Germany were in an economic depression that crippled the country. The German mark had lost so much value that it took a wheelbarrow full of money to buy a loaf of bread. A good portion of the youth in Germany were raised in fatherless homes. In an article written

Technology is defined as “the application of knowledge to extend human capabilities by equipment or a technique for performing a particular activity”. Technology has become very important part of our lives. I believe that technology in our lives is leading us to Eden. An Eden is a place of complete bliss and delight. Marshall McLuhan's statement that “Invention is the mother of necessities” is very true. This is because if it were not for technology our work would not be as efficient or productive

a mode of problem solving that is used to find the one best method through efficiency and rationality. In his article Understanding Our Age, Jacques Ellul states that “we are bound to see that in a society which has become extremely technical, the determining factor is both scientific research and the application of science in the form of technique” (Ellul 27). Society’s obsession with efficiency and rationality has succumbed workers to solutions that do not focus on their needs but rather on the

1. According to philosopher Jacques Ellul, “Propaganda is a set of methods employed by an organized group that wants to bring about the active or passive participation in its actions of a mass of individuals, psychologically, unified through psychological manipulation and incorporated in an organization.” (Bytwerk, 3) Methods of propaganda range from films, such as Leni Riefenstahl 's Olympiad and Triumph of the Will, to posters, marches, and sporting events. Propaganda is a means in which a group