robert e park_morale and the news

7/27/2019 Robert E Park_Morale and the News

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Morale and the NewsAuthor(s): Robert E. ParkSource: The American Journal of Sociology, Vol. 47, No. 3 (Nov., 1941), pp. 360-377Published by: The University of Chicago PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2769286

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MORALE AND THE NEWSROBERT E. PARK

ABSTRACTWiththeappearanceoftotal warfaren themodernworld,moralehas assumed anew importance.The object of so-called "psychic warfare" is to destroymorale,particularly he morale of the civilpopulation. The effect as been, whensuccessful,to paralyze the nationalwill, making ollective ctionimpossible.Nations exist onlywhen nd inso far s they re able to act. The methods fcreating ational olidarityand of destroyingt areabundantly llustratedn recent vents nEurope. Propagandais ordinarily heweapon withwhich ivilianmorale s destroyed,f not created. Withthemore extensive se of the arts and devices of psychicwarfare,war has tended toassume the character f a dialectic process, n which t appears not as a struggle fphysical orcesmerely ut deas and ideologies. News makespublicopinion;but publicopinion s sometimes,fnot always, nimical o morale. It is inimical o moralewhen ttends to intensify nd magnify ifferencesf attitude and opinion. But discussion,uponwhichpublic opinion s based, in so faras it brings nto theopen sentiments ndattitudes hat wouldotherwise e suppressed, ends to bring bout understandingndunity. By so doing t improvesmorale. Warand conflictmay be said to function hentheybring bout an understanding pon which securepeace may be based.

I. PROPAGANDASincewarhas nvaded herealm f he pirit,morale asassumeda new mportancenbothwar ndpeace. Totalwar snow nenter-prise o colossal hatbelligerentations indtnecessaryotonly omobilize ll their esources, aterialndmoral, utto makepresentpeace littlemore hana preparationorfuturewar. Under heseconditionso-called sychicwarfare, hich anbe carried n nthebetweentatesofactual belligerency,as assumed n importanceandachieved technicalfficiencyhich,f t has notchanged heessentialnatureofwar,has profoundlyltered he character fpeace, makingtmuchharder o bear.The object f ttack npsychicwarfaresmorale,nd essthatofthemen narms hanofthecivilpopulation ackofthe ines. Forthe"strategyfterror"s directed athermore t noncombatantsandagainst hosewhomustwait ndendure han gainst hosewhohave somewayofstrikingack.' Incidentally,his s oneway nwhich otalwarfarensofar s it sa warofnerves, ails o achieveitsends. It failsbecause tgives veryoneomethingodo; some-thinglsowhich,ince t nvolves articipation,f nly ymbolically,

I Edmond Taylor,Strategyf Terror Boston: HoughtonMifflin o., 1940).360


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MORALE AND THE NEWS 36Iina great ollectiventerprise,saf once source f nspirationndrelease. t tends husfiyallyo increase he olidaritynd mprovethemorale otonly fthecivilpopulation ut ofthe rmy s well.It seems t anyrate o havedone his nd morenEngland,wherethas, apparently,reated national pirit nd a national olidaritysuch s has notexisted here ince hedateoftheSpanishArmada.The willto oinwith thersncollective ction s oneoftheele-mentarymotives hatmovemankind.The consciousnessnd theexcitementfparticipationngreat vents onstitutesne of themost xhilaratingndsatisfyingfhuman xperiences.n the ever-beration hichuchparticipationnvariablyrousesnothermindsthe ction f veryndividualarticipantcquires newdignitynda newglorys well s an added moral upport.It is inandthroughhese astcollectiventerprises-wars,evo-lutions rsocialmovements,ike he abormovement-that ew n-stitutionsome nto xistencendold ones resometimesejuvenat-ed. No one eems ohave understoodhisbetter hanJoseOrtegaGasset, heauthor f nvertebratepain. No one,at the time hatthisvolumewaspublishedn 937, hadmore eason ounderstandit, for hese ssays re devotedto an analysis fthe processes ywhich he ntegrationndthedisintegrationftheSpanish mpireand theSpanishnational nity ameabout. Whathe says aboutSpain s peculiarlyertinentodayto conditionsntherestoftheworld nd to thesubject fthispaper. Thefirstfthese ssays sentitledHow To Make andBreak a Nation.""It is notyesterday,radition,hepast," he says, which s thedecisive,hedeterminingorcena nation. Nations re made andgoon iving yhaving programor he uture." t isneithermpor-tantnornecessaryounity nd solidarity,e adds,"thatthecom-ponent arts f societyoincidentheirdeas nd their esires; heimportant,heessential hing s that each shouldknow nd to acertain xtentncorporatentohisown ife he deas andthedesiresoftheothers."2There sprobably o other ocialprocess, oformf nteraction,bywhich he ndividualomponentsf society resoeffectivelyr2Jos6 rtega Gasset,nvertebratepain NewYork:Norton,937), pp. I9-45.


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362 THE AMERICAN OURNAL F SOCIOLOGYso completelyntegrated,fnotfused, s they rebyparticipationnsomeform f collective ction. In fact, s it is conceived y somewriters,ociety xists nd s"inbeing," o use a nautical erm, nlywhen tis capableof concertednd consistentction.3The so-called we" group s typically he group hat cts. Par-ticularlys this ruefone ncludes nder his erm very ormf o-cietynwhich thnocentrismr group elf-consciousnessrdinarilymanifeststself. t is true hat crowd ra mobdoesnot think fitself s "we"; not at least until t comes n contact nd in conflictwith omeother rowd rmob. In the atter ase itpresentlys-sumes hecharacterf gang,gives tself name, nd perhaps s-sumes ome vague sort of exclusive ossession ver the territorywhichs itspeculiarhabitat. This is characteristicfsomeof thelower nimals-birdsnparticular. f venture o mentionhis erylowly ypeof ociety n this onnection,t is to emphasize hefactthatnotonly rmies nd nations aveneed of ome ort fmoralebutevery therype f ocialgroup swellwhichmust ct effective-ly norder o survivenconflict ith ther ocieties.The arts nd devices y which morale f people an be raisedanda nationalpirit evivedfnot reated,swell s themethodsywhich ationalolidarityf nenemy eople anbeunderminedndeventually estroyed,avebeenconvincinglyemonstratedntherecent istoryfEurope nd are abundantlyllustratednthecur-rentnews.There s, nthefirsthandeportsfobserversndpar-ticipantsfthepresentonflictnEurope,material or more eal-istic political cience, uch as has been historicallyttributed oMachiavelli uthasbeenmore ecentlynd more ystematicallyx-emplifiednthewritingsf he taliansociologist,areto. For sucha realisticolitical cience, irsthandccounts fpolitical ventsikeWilliamhirer's erlin iary re kind f ource ook. Hisaccountofoneof he arlier urembergpep-meetings"f heNazi partysa contributionotmerelyohistoryut osociology.Pep-meeting"isnot heright ord or heNurembergeremonies. omethingesssecular nd more uggestivef a religious evivalwouldbetter e-scribe t. Here sanexcerptrom hatdiary nder hedateofNu-remberg,eptember , I934.

3J. A. Thomson,Animal ociology,"ncyclopaediaritannica14thed.), , 97I.


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MORALE AND THE NEWS 363I'm beginning o comprehend, think, ome of the reasons for Hitler'sastounding uccess. Borrowing chapter rom heRomanchurch, e is restor-ingpageantryndcolour ndmysticism o thedrab ivesoftwentieth-century

Germans.This morning's peningmeetingn theLuitpoldHall on the out-skirts f Nuremberg asmorethan gorgeous how; t also had somethingfthemysticismnd religious ervourfan Easter or ChristmasMass ina greatGothic athedral.The hall was a sea ofbrightlyoloured lags.Even Hitler'sarrivalwas made dramatic.The band stoppedplaying.Therewas a hushoverthethirty housandpeople packedin the hall. Then the band struck p theBadenweilerMarch, verycatchytune, nd usedonly, 'm told,whenHitlermakes his big entries.Hitler ppeared n theback of theauditorium,nd fol-lowedbyhisaides, Goring,Goebbels,Hess,Himmler,ndtheothers, estrodeslowlydown the ongcentre isle whilethirty housandhandswereraised nsalute. It is a ritual, he old-timersay,which s always followed.Then animmense ymphony rchestra layed Beethoven'sEgmontOverture.GreatKlieg lightsplayed on the stage,whereHitlersat surroundedya hundredparty officialsnd officersf the armyand navy. Behindthemthe "bloodflag," heohe carried own he treets fMunich nthe ll-fatedutsch.Behindthis,four r fivehundred .A. standards.Whenthe music was over,RudolfHess, Hitler's closestconfidant,oseand slowlyread thenamesof the Nazi"martyrs"-brown-shirts ho had been killed n the struggle or power-aroll-call fthedead,and thethirtyhousand eemedverymoved.In suchan atmosphere owonder, hen, hateveryworddroppedbyHitlerseemed ike n inspiredWordfrom nhigh.Man's-or at least the German's-criticalfacultys swept away at suchmoments,nd every ie pronouncedsacceptedas hightruthtself.

The arts and devices of spiritualwarfare re many and variousand more ubtlenodoubt han nyanalysis as thusfardisclosed.But oneof heweapons fpsychic arfare,othof ffensendofde-fense,spropaganda.4 aroldLasswell,whohas madepropagandathe subjectof an extended nvestigationnd who writesmoreshrewdlyboutthe ubject hanmost therswithwhosewritingsamfamiliar,assoughtodistinguishetween ducation ndpropa-ganda. His distinctions basedonthedifferenceetween wo ele-ments rtwoaspects fculturewhich e describes s "technique"and "value." He says: "The inculcation ftraditional alue atti-tudes sgenerallyalled ducation, hile heterm ropagandas re-4 See Kimball Young and R. D. Lawrence,Bibliography n Censorship ndPropa-ganda ("University fOregonJournalism eries," No. i [Eugene,Ore.: University fOregon, 928]).


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364 THE AMERICAN JOURNALOF SOCIOLOGYserved or he preadingf he ubversive,ebatable rmerely ovelattitudes."5

The distinctions substantiallyhat between ews and propa-gandaor,better till, etween ews nd editorial. he editorial ageseeks o inculcate ot merely ttitudes ut opinions; nd editorialopinionsmay be either subversive, ebatable, r merely ovel,"andare,formostnewspaper eadersnthe United tates, ince heydo notreadthem, either ne nor heother.The differenceetween ews nd editorials onething hateverynewspapermannows, hen eneeds o, ven fhe s not lways bleto formulate definitionhat makes the distinctionlear for llcases. Theessence, r ntrinsicuality, fnews s hard ocome t,butnews s notpropaganda,nd t s not ditorial.n a generalwayonemay aythatnews tates hefact, ditorial,he ruth.The factsmaycall forreflection,ordeliberation,nd sometimesormorefacts. The truth, owever, as the character ffinality. aving t,i.e.,havinghewhole ruth,ne tops nvestigation,eases oreflect,and is either ilentikea plantor acts ike a human eing. Propa-ganda slikely obe a littlemore mperativehan heordinarydi-torial. Since t seeks ction,t aimstodispeldoubt nd tpretendssometimeso thefinalityftruth ven f t isonly half-truthr adownrightie.Newsmaybe and oftens,when hefacts re such s to serve hepurpose f hepropagandist,hebestkind fpropaganda,utnewsandfacts realways apableofmore hanone nterpretation,ndthatwouldbe fatal-reflections alwaysfatal-to propaganda.

It is because vents recapableofmore hanone nterpretationthatwediscuss hem. t is outof hese iscussionshat ublic pin-ionemerges. iscussions otonlymakepublic pinion, hey ome-timesmakewar. But asfar smyobservationoes, hey arelyvermake eace. That doesnot eem o be their unction.Whendiscus-sion s carried nintheorderly,cademic ashion, hich ocratesfirstntroducedndphilosophersavekeptupever ince,t scalleddialectic.The function fdialectic,f t also canbe regardeds asocialprocess,eems obe to testopinions.Onetestsopinions y5Harold D. Lasswell, "Propaganda,"Encyclopediaf he ocial ciences,II (NewYork, 934), 522.


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MORALE AND THE NEWS 365findingut f hey re consistentn their ifferentxpressions. heoutcome fdiscussionsusually o ay barethe ubmergedypothe-ses, not to saysubmergedomplexes, n which ivergentpinionsare based. Thissometimeseadsto an agreement,ut tsometimesrevealsdifferenceso profound nd so chargedwith motionndsentimenthatfurther iscussion ppearsunprofitable,f not m-possible. Whenthat happens o individuals here eems o be nowayof arryingnthe ontroversyxcept yfighting. henthap-pensto nations, s it has happened ecentlynthe case ofEnglandand Germany,t leads to war.

From his oint fviewwar,whetherhysical rpsychic, resentsitself s an instance f the dialecticprocess. When a discussionceases obeacademic, hen t takes inallyhe orm f n armed on-flict,t doesnotcease, o use the anguage f recentwriter,o bea"battleofmindswhere deas, deologies,ropaganda,nd emotionsclash nordered anks, isciplinedikesoldiers."6n thisbattleofminds nd wills, nwhich hepurpose f achbelligerents to main-tain, ndifpossible nhance,tsownmorale nd at the same timeunderminendweaken hat ofthe enemy, ropaganda,whethertseeksmerely o interpretvents rto indoctrinatend defend heassumptionsnd the deologynaccordancewithwhich vents reinterpreted,s a principal eapon f offensend defense.

II. MORALEThere eems obe someuncertaintys to ustwhatmorale s andwheret s ocated. s it nthe ndividualr nthegroup r nboth?Whetherts ocus s in th'egroup rin the ndividual,here s nodoubtof ts mportance.t countsmuch nbattlebuthowmuch?No oneknows recisely.t isoneof hosemponderablesithwhichonemust eckon utwhich necannotweigh.Morale n anarmysa "will o fight";n thecivilpopulationt stheability o endurehardshipst homeand bad newsfrom hefront.This willtofight nd to endure eems o be a compound fseveralothermponderableomponents: ourage, onfidence,ndtheChristianirtues aith, ope, ndcharity,rovided y "charity"6Taylor, op. cit.,p. I.


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366 THE AMERICANJOURNALOF SOCIOLOGYonemeans nderstanding-theind funderstandingneexpects ofind n smallfightingnits r n a well-organizedamily. t is theunderstandinghat s thebasisof sprit ecorps.The charity hichnotoriouslyegins t homedoesnot nclude he nemy, nd charityintheabstract s not a qualificationfa fighting an.Morale, hought sdependentpon hequalitieswe callvirtues,is not o be dentified ithmorals rwithmores.Morals re habits,and, ike conscience,rerooted n tradition.When hey ncounternewconditionshey re ikely o be confusednd involved n con-flict,ompromise,ndcasuistry. his s the ase of he onscientiousobjector.Morale, n theother and, s prospective;t rests n suchdiscipline nd solidaritys anywherexists, ut ts outlook s f r-ward. It is will, he tendencies f theorganismo act, organizedabout faithnthefutureather han bout n interestn or piousconcernor hepast. Morale,whethernwaror npeace, s will; hewill oact andtoperseverena course f cting ntil hehopeswhichinspiredt have been realized.Whilewe ordinarilyimit heterm"morale" o action,we alsoapply t tosituationsnwhich ctivityis routine nd does not seem o be either ontrolledr directed.WhenPresidentRoosevelt ddressed heAmerican eople onMarch 2, 1933, most f hebanks ntheUnited tateswere losed,andmost fthepeople ntheUnited tateswerena state fpanic.In the ourse fhisremarks esaid: "After ll,there s an elementnthereadjustmentf ourfinancialystemmoremportanthan ur-rency,moremportanthangold, ndthat s theconfidencefthepeople." The effect f this ddresshas beendescribed s magical.BronislawMalinowski, hose tudies mong heTrobriandsland-ershas madehim nauthorityn the ubject fmagic,would ay,suspect, hat hePresident'speechwasmagic.Theeffectsroughtaboutbywords ndsymbols,s I understandim, rethe ssence fmagic.7Oneof hefunctionsf hemagiciannprimitiveociety, etells s, s to restoremoralewhen earnthepresencef ome nfre-seenorunprecedentedvent,iketherecentnvasion romMarsasreported yOrsonWelles, as shaken t.8

7Argonautsf heWesternacificLondon, 1932).8 See Hadley Cantril,Thenvasion romMars Princeton,N.J.: PrincetonUniversityPress,1940).


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MORALE AND THE NEWS 367This seems o demonstrategain,whathas often een demon-strated efore, hatwords nd symbolswhich reate nd maintain

themorale f n army re equallynecessaryo maintainhemoraleof civil ociety. t seems, herefore,hatwe must ecognize oraleas a factorn all our ollectiventerprises.t is a factorn theopera-tionofthe tock xchange, uite s much s it s inthe ctivities ftheCommunist arty.It is interestingo notethatupon the same datethatPresidentRooseveltmadehishistoricadio ddress o thepeople f heUnitedStatesthe pressannounced hetriumphftheNazi party, rper-haps one might etter ay oftheNazi sect, ntheelectionsn Prus-sia. Commentingn this lection, heNew YorkTim-esorrespond-ent said: "Through he election istory f the NationalSocialistsandtheNationalists, ermanyor hefirstime ince hedaysof heOld Empire,has been unified." ncidentally,ometwo hundredpersons ere illednthe ourse f he ampaign,uttheNewYorkcorrespondentelieved t this ime hat violencewas spent."9Moralehas not nly ts piritual ut tsphysical,more pecificallyitsphysiological,spect. From hepoint fviewofphysiology,ndperhaps f ociology, orale eems o be the bility f nindividualor of society o maintain ension ver period ftime; o carrynan action ran enterpriseo completion. he action,with nterrup-tions,may continue,tseems, ndefinitelys is the case ofonewhoactsconsistentlyo achieve career rto carry ut project o whichhe has devoted lifetime.What tension,n its mostelementaryphase, nvolves, ne maygather romwatching cat waiting ormouse, r anypredatorynimal talkingtsprey.Early nthepresent enturyociologicalpeculationnd researchweregiven neworientation ainly y the writingsf two men:Scipio ighelen taly ndGustav e Bon inFrance. Le Bon,whoselittle reatise n TheCrowdLe Foule) has donemuch o popularizethenewpoint fview, iscoveredhat, nder ertain pecificondi-tions, casualgatheringf ndividuals, rawn ogether y no com-monpurpose nd having pparently o common nterests,ould,andifthenecessary onditions erepresentwould, n response owhathecalled themental nity fcrowds" e suddenly, ot o say

9F. T. Birchell, ewYork imes,March2, I933.


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368 THE AMERICAN JOURNALOF SOCIOLOGYmiraculously,ransformed,ecoming,s he expressedt,no ongernagglomerationf ndividuals ut"a single eing."

Allthis, s he states t, ounds ortentous.Whathe s describing,however,s a familiarxperience.t is thefact hat crowd,whenexcited, ecomes mobandbecomes,what a mere gglomerationcouldnot, very ffectivegency or arryingn very lementaryforms fcollective ction-a lynching,or xample. One may ob-servemuch he same phenomenonn a herdof cattle r a flock fsheep. MaryAustin,nher ittle olume ntitled heFlock, as de-scribed heway nwhich, nder he nfluencef omedistressr ud-denterror, flock f heepwill ometimes ill bout n an evernar-rowing ircle until heyperish y suffocation."IoWhat happensunder uch circumstancess whathappens n acrowdwhen he ttentionfeveryndividuals, by chance, ocusedupon omemore hanusually xcitingbject r ncident. y a psy-chological rocess, otunlike hemilling f heflock r herd, he n-terestndthe xcitementf veryndividuals ntensifiedythere-sponse achunconsciously akes o the manifestnterest f everyotherndividual. hecrowdssumes nder hese ircumstanceshecharacter fa closed ircuit,ach ndividual espondingohisownexcitementshe sees treflectedn the ttitudesndemotionsfhisneighbor. heeffectf his irculareactionstoproduce teady e-instatementf theoriginaltimuluss well s a correspondingn-creasen the uggestibility,xcitement,ndtensionneveryndivid-ual until hecrowds a collective nit,psychologicallyntegratedand completelymobilized orwhatever ction s expected r bychance uggeststself. n anycasethe mpendingction,f t takesplaceat all,willbe sudden, mpetuous,nd, unlessmanipulated ysomeoutsider, uite unpremeditatednd unplanned.Since ts ctionsreunpremeditated,nplanned,ndwithouter-spective,ne would robably ot, nthesense nwhich hat ermsusually sed, peakofmoralenthecrowd.When, owever,n ac-tion s projectedndplanned equires otmerely eadiness o actbutthewill to act consistentlymidall the accidents,ncidents,and changes ffortunesf a long campaign,morale cquires he10Mary Austin,The Flock,quoted in Park and Burgess, ntroductiono theScienceof Sociology2d ed.; Chicago: University f ChicagoPress,I924), pp. 88i-82.


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MORALE AND THE NEWS 369meaning e give t whenwe speak, s we do sofrequentlyowadays,ofmoralen the rmyndmoralenthecivilian opulation.Never-theless,n the broader ense nwhich hat terms sometimesm-ployed, s when ne referso theprevailingtate fmind n Francebefore nd since heGerman onquest, nemay, tseems, peakofthemorale f nysociety r of nygroupnwhich ome ort fcon-certs maintainedysome ort f ommunication.n such societytherewillbe changesn tension n response o changesn life-con-ditions; hangesnorientationnresponseo events s they ccur.In human ociety here re alwaysfashions.As fashions ome nandgo out, ocial ensionsise ndfall, ndsociety, hichnevitablyfacesn thedirectionrom hich henews omes, lters ts attitudetoits worldnresponseo these hanges eportedn thepress.Oneof hemost ervasiveormsnwhich ensionndwillmanifestthemselvesn ndividualsnd nsocietys nmoods.Every ccasion,be ta funeralra wedding,as tscharacteristictmosphere.verygathering,ven f t s nomore han crowd nthe treet,sdomi-natedby somesentiment. ne ismore ikely o notice hismood,perhaps, hen necannot hare t. In that ase,whethert be a sadora happy ccasion, ne s repelledndinevitablyeeksmore on-genial ompany.I was constantly mpressed, n reading William Shirer's BerlinDiary,with hefactthathe seemed o noteevery hange n thespiritual eathern a world hatwas forhim very ay a little esscongenialhan heday before.Thismoral tmosphereeems o bea very aithfulndex s well s a conditionfmorale n a civil om-munity-evenn a smaller ommunityike thatof the diplomaticcirclen a foreignountry.Atanyrate thasbeen constant on-cern fHitler ndofhispropaganda ureau opreservenGermanyan atmospheren the civilian opulation hatwould support hemorale fthe rmynthefieldndtheprogramf thegovernmentat home. It is thisthatgives ignificanceo theNurembergere-monies hatShirer escribes. t is obviouslyhepurpose fall theceremonynd theritual ssociatedwith heNazimovementocre-atean atmosphere,tension,nd an expectancy hich,nfocusingattention ponthe hings opedfor, ill ffectivelynhibit nycon-sideration hat runscounterto thosehopes.


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370 THE AMERICANJOURNALOF SOCIOLOGYTo maintainhis tmospherendprotect heGerman opulationfromhe"poison," s Goebbels alled t,offoreignropaganda as

beenthepurpose f thecensorship. o interpretndmediate heeffectf uchreports fevents s reached hem re thefunctionsfthepropaganda ureau.It is obviousthat the mpulse, he will to act,expressestselfincharacteristicallyifferentays ndifferentypes f ocieties; if-ferent,hat stosay, nthe rowd,nthegang, nthepolitical arty,and inthesect. In fact, tmayexpress tself nall thesedifferentways nthe uccessivehases fthe volution f collectivection.Thiscollectivempulse ssumes n thecourse f tsevolutionmostofthe haracteristicsf mind-that s,of collectivemind.Thus,MaryAustinpeaks f he flockmind,"Le Bondescribeshe dio-syncrasiesf the"crowdmind." We arefamiliar ith hephrase"publicmind."Thequestions towhere his o-calledmind r willis ocated,whethert sa phaseor naspect, ike lass onsciousness,ofthe ndividualonsciousnessrhas some ort f ndependentx-istence, eems o ose most f ts mportancefwe meanby"collec-tivemind"nomore hantheunity nd intimatenterdependencewhichmakes tpossible orndividuals o actconcertedlyndcon-sistently. he capacity o act collectivelys apparentlyreated ythat nterpenetrationfmindnvolvedncommunication.In thegang rotherntimateroup, here ssociationsbasedonfamiliar nd personal elation,morale akes the form fesprit ecorps. n a political artywhichs a conflictrdiscussionroupt srepresentedy policy,upportedy formalrinciplef ome ort.In a religiousectmoralessupportedythe uthorityf creed rby dogmaswhich annotbe questioned. t seemsthat the Naziparty,nthecourse f tshistory,aspassedthroughll thephasesrepresentedythefour ypes f ociety have mentioned.ts firstappearancewas ina Putsch rcoupd'etat hatwascarriedutbyagroup lmost s little rganizeds a mob. From hatpointtfoughtitswayup na kind fgangwarfare ith he ommunists.t becamelater political arty ndas suchgained new tatuswhen tssup-porters ainedrepresentationn theReichstag.Meanwhile thadtaken n, t least nthe ase of ts eaders,he haracterf more rless fanatical olitical,fnotreligious,ect. It now ncludesmong


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MORALEAND THE NEWS 371its spiritual ossessionsotonly ritual nd a creed ut, nthevol-ume MeinKatmpf,Bible. Finally, t has in Hitler ts prophet,fnot ts God. As a political ect t has attemptedo suppress veryform fdissentwith ll thefervornd fanatical igor fa newbornreligion. nder tsdirectionheGerman eople renow pparentlyengagedn a holywar o reorganizehe ocial ife ftheplanetn allitsfundamentalspects-economic,olitical,nd religious.If this tatements a little oo summaryo do justice o thehis-torical acts,t at leastsuggests hatmorale anbe under totali-tarian overnmentuch s exists odaynGermanyndwhat tcan-notbe in a more ecular ociety ikeour own.

III. NEWSThe distinctionetween ctivity nd action, s I conceive t, sthat ctionhasperspective,asa beginningndanend, nd, ntheprocess ftransitionrom hefirstmpulse nwhich t has tsoriginto ts final onsumationn a final vert ct, t s likely oencounterevents hat ometimes ake hat onsummationrecarious. ction,inshort,s activityhat s controllednddirected.That s therea-son,when nd f ction s prolongednddifficult,t requires,oin-sure success, will" in the individual nd, in the group,morale.These actions nd theirperspectives ive the dimensions f theworldnwhich,nemight ay, ife ctually oeson, s distinguishedfrom heacademicworldwhere ot ifebutthought, preparationfor ction, oeson.Each and allofuslive n a world fwhichwe are thecenter,ndthedimensionsf hisworld redefined ythedirectionnd thedis-tances rom hich henews omes o us. Fornews snot omethingnewmerely,t is somethingmportant;ndit comes o us with nurgencyhatrequiresction, ven fno more han change f tti-tudeorthereaffirmationfanopinion.Allthis sofno mportancexcept n so far s it suggestsherela-tivityfworldsnwhichmen re actively live nd forwhose rder-ly existence hey re in some way personallyesponsible.Whatcomes o usinthewayofa record fevents rom lsewhere,hat s,outside f ron the uter imitsfourworld,smainlymyth,egend,or iterature;omethinghat s perhaps ntrinsicallynterestingut


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372 THE AMERICAN JOURNALOF SOCIOLOGYnot o mmediatelymportanthat omethingeeds o be done boutit. It is because heworld n whichwe ive s likethis hatwe dis-cover t visibly xpandingboutus as theperspectivefourpracti-cal interestsnd actionsengthen.How profoundlyhese erspectivesave been hanged uring heprocess f the presentwar! Suddenly, fter he fall of France, tseemed s if heplanethad grown maller ndourworld arger.Theisolationistsmong s are thosewhofor arious easons otwhollyarticulate, suspect,re unwillingr unable oaccept his hange.It is na realm efinedy the irculationfnews ather hanby theworldwithwhichweare n mmediateontacthat ll ourgreat ol-lective nterprises-war,evolution,nd national overnment-arecarried n.Thetaskoforganizing,f nergizing,nd, bove all,of nimatingwith common ill nd a commonurpose ast armies ndwholepeoples s an incrediblyomplicated ut, withmodernmeans ofcommunication,ot mpossibleask.Atanyrate, heGerman ov-ernment, ith heassistance f the censorshipnd thepropagandabureau, eems,s far s ishumanly ossible,ohave ucceeded,romtimeto time,n imbuingtsarmies nd, to a lessextent,ts civilpopulationwithsomethingf theunanimityfLe Bon'spsycho-logical rowd.This hashelped o maintainhemorale f henationin the uccessiverises hrough hichthaspassed.The German rmy, ne hears,has beengreatly emocratizednthecourse f tsrejuvenation. herehascomento xistence com-radeship etweenheofficersndmen hatdidnot xistnthePrus-sian rmy eforeheNational-Socialistevolution. hishascreatedinthe rmy, nd particularlyn thenavy, nespritecorpshatdidnotexistduringhefirstWorldWar.German olitical echnicians,ith heaid of Germancholarsnthe everal ocial ciences, istory,nthropology,ndthenew Ger-man cience, eopolitik,avedeveloped,s their ontributiono thenationalmorale, political hilosophy hichs designed o ustifythe German eople's laim o theposition fthe dominant ace nEurope. They-havetthe ame ime ormulatedpolitical rogramwhich romises,f uccessful,omakethis laim ood. Since uropehas held,perhaps tillholds, dominant ositionn themodern


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MORALEAND THE NEWS 373world,German ominationfEuropewould mply ominationftheworld.Finally,HerrHitler ndhis associates eem o have nspired hearmy,fnot hepeople,with ninvincibleaithntheirmissionnddestiny-a faith uchas wouldordinarilyxistonly n a religioussect. Hitler ndhis untohave sought o support hatfaith yrit--ual, y myth, nd, above all, by ceremonieshatrevive rom imeto time heatmospherend themoodof exaltationnwhichtwasoriginallyonceived.This faith n theirmissionnd destiny asbeentransmittedo Germans broad, ivingnwhatonemight e-scribe s theDiasporaof this atest f the "Chosen- eople." Fromthatsource therpeoples,who, according o Nazi doctrines,anneverhopeto be identified ith hemaster-race aveneverthelessbeen nfectedy tsdoctrine.Moraleand discipline,s HermannRauschning, heauthor fRevolutionfNihilism, ays, s nowa religionn Germanynd hasachievednthatnation nunprecedentedigh evel f ntensityndeffectiveness.t hasneverthelesseencreated nd sustained yes-sentiallyhe amemeans s social olidaritynddisciplineavebeencreated ndmaintained herever enhave been ssociated o formsocieties nd to act collectively.A nation ncludeswithintswideembrace ll ordinaryormsfassociation ithwhichwe arefamiliar,.e., ocal,familial,conomic,political, eligious,ndracial.It istheproblem fnationalmorale oco-ordinatehesegroups o thatthey o-operate atherhanclash.In the anguage f the Nazi party'spolitical echnicians,t is theproblem fGleichschaltung.t has been chieved yco-ordinating,subordinating,ndeventually using very ocal and minoroyaltyinto totalitarianoyalty o thenational tate. Where hathas notbeen ctually chieved,s inthe aseof heLutheransndCatholics,it has neverthelesseen attempted.There s already onsiderableliterature,sychologicalndpedagogical, hich howswhatwasat-temptedndwhathasbeenachievednthearmy, heschools,ndthepress.""

Therelation fnews omoralesnot so obvious s is thatoftheIISee German sychologicalWarfare: Survey nd BibliographyNew York: Com-mitteeforNational Morale, I940).


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374 THE AMERICAN OURNAL F SOCIOLOGYother age of thenewspaper,heeditorial.News comes o us andto thenewspaper eread fromvery artoftheworldn whichweand tsother eadersre nterested.t comes rdinarily,rovidedtis notwritten p so thatour nterestn it is symbolicnd literaryratherhanfactual,n theformfdisconnectedtems.Newspaper-menhave discoveredhat, ther hings eing qual,news tems reread n nverse atio o theirength.Thenationalweekly ewspaperslikeTime ndNewsweekavediscoveredhatthey angive a newnews nterestothese temsi) byclassifyinghem nd 2) by dig-ging pso-called ackground aterials hich nableus to see themin their elation oother ventswidely ispersedn time ndspace.To put a news tem na settingfhistoricalrotherwiseelated actsgives t a character hichssometimesistoricalndsometimesoci-ological. uch n item ecomes istoryn sofar s itfinds place nthehistoricalequence. t becomes ociologicaln so far s, whenclassified,tthrowsight pon ocialprocessrrespectivef heplaceortimenwhich heprocess akesplace.Asheredescribed,ewshas noinfluenceponpolitical ction rmorale. ts tendencys todisperse nddistract ttentionndthusdecrease ather hanncreaseension. heordinaryunctionfnewsis to keep ndividualsndsocieties rientednd ntouchwith heirworld ndwith eality y minordjustments.t isnot tsfunctionordinarilyo initiate ecular ocial movements hich,whentheymove toorapidly, ring boutcatastrophiconsequences.On theother and,when ome mportantrdisturbingventoccurs hat"makes hefront age"andcapturesheheadlines,tmay lsocap-ture ndhold ttention or ays nd weeks,ike he tory fthe b-duction ftheLindbergh abyand thesubsequent rial ndexecu-tion fthe lleged bductor.The story f such nevent r series f ventssnot n tem,t sa"story"-a continuedtory,nfact;one thatmay growmore b-sorbingseachday andeach ssue f hepress ringsorthomenewdevelopment.n thisway tmaybecome o absorbings to dwarfinterestnevery theresserncidentn ocal or current istoryAsa storytbecomesmore nthrallingustbecause t spublishedn n-stalments hich ive pportunityor eaders oreflect,peculate,rbrood ver he ignificancef ach successivenstalment. nder he


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MORALE AND THE NEWS 375circumstanceseaders f the news nterprethese ncidentsndallthedetailsntermsfmemoriesf heirwn xperiencesndof imi-lar tragic pisodeswithwhich hey refamiliar. n thiswaythenews easesto bemerenews ndacquires he ignificancef itera-ture, utof realisticiteratureike he true tories" fthepopularmagazinesndof theearlier alladsthatprecededhem nthehis-tory fthenewspaper.'2 hat fixes ndholdsthe nterestfthereader ends odisorientim;tends opossesshim.It is thesamewithwars nwhichwe seemto seehistorynthemaking;wars nwhich he fateof nations nd of civilizations in-volved. t is when ttentions focused n these ventswhich renot temsbutchapters romhecurrent istoryhatwewho arespectatorsventuallyet ympatheticallynvolved.Under hese ir-cumstancest is inevitablehatweshould,n accordancewith hedifferencesf ourpersonal xperiencesnd ourpersonal rejudices,interpretvents nd history ifferently.t is inevitable hatweshould ake ides, ince iscussionends oemphasizendbringutdifferencess well s obscure,emporarilyt least,more undamen-talpoints f viewuponwhichwe areunited.This is unfortunate,perhaps, ornationalmorale equiresboveeverythinglsethat na crisiswe should ctas a nation nd be united s a people.Publicopinions thereforeota good ndexofmorale ecause,being hefruitfdiscussion,t ntensifiesifferences.ublic pinionis on the surface fthingsnd does notreflect heattitudes ndpoints fview nwhich he ommunitysunited.Thevery xistenceofpublic pinionsitselfvidencehatwearenot t themomentsone nregardowhat sa nation r peopleweshould o. However,as things etdiscussed nd dropout ofdiscussion,hedirectionwhich ublic pinion akes nthecourse ftime ndicateshedirec-tion nwhich ollective ill, ntheprocess fformation,s taking.This swhat heGalluppolls how.Public discussion fpublicpolicyduring eriods fcrisis,whendiscussionends obecome mbittered,nvariablyrings othe ur-facenotonly ivergentoints fviewbutthememoriesndoriginalexperiencesponwhich hese nterpretationsfevents rebased.I2 HelenHughes,The Human nteresttoryChicago: UniversityfChicago PressI940).


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376 THE AMERICAN OURNAL F SOCIOLOGYOne has but to readthe xasperatednd oftenutrageous iews x-pressedn etters o the ditor o recognizehat hese etters re thereflectionsfpersonal rustrationsnd ofdeep motionalxperienceswhose ourcesreoften o obscure hat twould equirehe kill fpsychoanalysto discover hem.Butinso far s freedomfdiscus-siongets o the ource f his motional iolencend so bringst ntotheopen,discussiono that xtent ontributesomethingndirectlyto thenationalmorale.These controversialetters erve s a purgetotheminds f hosewhowrote hem nd give omfortothosewhowould iketo have writtenhemfthey ould.In a recent opy of the Detroit ree Press ran across veryclever ndnot ll-naturedndictmentfHarold ckes. He was de-scribedsthekind f manwhowritesxasperatingndexasperatedletters o theeditor.Well,probably arold ckes s thatkind f aman,buthehasbeen great omforto meand amsure o others.He exaggerates,o be sure, s an exasperatedmanwill;buthesaysthingshat omeone hould ay, nd I am certainhrough yownexperiencehathe is improvinghemorale fthecountry. recallwhathe has saidaboutLindbergh, hom admire. wish couldhearhimon SenatorGeraldNye. I supposehe has at sometimelanded nthe enator rom orth akota,but f o havemissed t.Gettinghis tuffff urchests,as I havesuggested,oodfor hecountry.t improvesmorale, nd,besides hat, ne can be certainthatnoonewho omes utwith hebitternesshat s n him sgoingto be a fifth olumnist. hese letters o thepress re notpublicopinion, owever. hey remerely ersonal pinions.fthey ouldbe accompanied y a confessionsudden,complete,nd bitter"whichwouldrevealthe contextn which heywereformed,heywould hrow great ight nthe ources fdiscontent hichmake tdifficultna countryike urs, omposedfpeoplewhohavecome ous from heendsof theearth, o unitewholeheartedly,xceptnagreatnational mergency,n an all-out otalitarianolicy,uch sa greatnationalmergencyequireshatwe should.I said at theoutset fthispaperthatwar tended o assume hecharacter fa dialectical rocessnwhichdeas rather hanforceplaythe eading ole. As eventsmakethe ssues s originallyon-


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MORALE AND THE NEWS 377ceived nd statedobsolete, elligerentsind t necessaryrom imeto time o redefineheir ims anddiscovermorefundamentalndmore easonable roundso ustify he course heyhave chosen opursue. n the ongrun, articularlyfconflicts prolonged,t be-comesnecessaryotmerelyosatisfyhequestions hich eflectionhas raised t home utto ustify he ims ndconductf hewar othepublic broadwhichmaynotbewhollyommittedo eitheride.In this case war ceasesto have the character f an internationalcoupd'etat, iming ymeansof a Blitzkriego present he worldwith faitaccompli,nd becomesmore nd more warofideasand ideologies. uchwars nevitably ome to have the characterofrevolutions. heyend nthatcase by bringingboutnotmerelychangesnmaterial ossessionsutin institutionsnd thefunda-mental onceptionsf ife. t is, nfact,whynsofar s they o thisthatwarcan be saidtofunctionnthehistoricalrocess.Underthesecircumstances,orale upported y a principle freason eases to be a matter f either opeor fear nd becomesmorale orce. n the ong un t s thesemorale orceshatdeterminethe ssues orwhichwars re carried n.UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

robert e park_morale and the news

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