52 SOCIAL SCIENTIST society come to regard themselves as "little". Through their mass media the ruling groups press upon the "little man" standard opinions of himself and of others, and stuff him with the necessary illusions. The mass media induce men to act according to prescribed schemes and stereotypes, as a result of which, to quote the US philosopher, Riesman, "inter-oriented" personality is turned into one "externally controlled" and becomes the manipulated man. Manipulation of mass thinking is, unquestionably, a dangerous weapon of imperialism, and is part of the complex, all pervasive machinery of bourgeois monopoly rule. Despite the spiritual poverty of bourgeois system, manipulation has done much to aid the ruling circles of modern capitalist society in retaining their ideological hold over sizeable sections of working class. The obvious impossibility of controlling society for a long time by means of barefaced coercion, this growing isolation of the ruling clique and the widening gulf between it and society, the discrediting of fascist forms of government all combined together to make the governing elite and its scholarly apologists turn to the information media as a possible way of developing what would seem to be "free" and not "imposed" inner control "of his own choosing". Playing on human impulses and emotions is a means of neutralising man's inherent capacity to think rationally; the effectiveness of propaganda depends on how much the propagandist is able to manipulate people's behaviour, on how inconspicuous his efforts are; propaganda measures must be planned and carried out on a strictly objective basis, the propagandist remaining quite unemotional about it and serving the interest of his group, wholly unmindful of the general negative consequences of his work. What are the rules the propagandist of this sort must follow ? There are several. He must advocate the particular interests of a group or class of exploiters and not of society as a whole while making it seem that interests of this particular group concur with those of society at large; the propaganda must be such that people will not see the connection between what they are incited to do and the ultimate aim of these actions, the value of "truth" should be measured not by how accurately it represents the actual facts but by the extent to which it is able to evoke the required public response. It is easy to see that we have to contend with cynical, shrewd, well-planned and purposeful propaganda which stops at nothing. At the same time, manipulation is a reflection of the weakness of the bourgeoisie, whose ideological influence has been dwindling and which has been compelled to seek new ways of reaching the hearts and minds of people. Manipulation also reveals that bourgeois ideology has been turning to defensive strategy. Of course,bourgeois ideologists still possess the cap-ability to solve some short-term political and ideological problems by utilising scientific and technical achievements and instruments designed to