Cultural Engineering

Cultural Engineering refers to the deliberate process of influencing and shaping the values, tastes, and collective preferences of a society or population from the top down.

This approach posits that cultural shifts are not merely organic or emergent phenomena driven solely by bottom-up public demand, but can be actively designed and implemented by organised groups or individuals with specific goals.

The objective is often to supplant existing cultural forms, ideas, or preferences with new ones that are favoured by the agents of change.

Challenges to implementing cultural change through engineering include:

• Public Preference for Existing Forms: The general public may already favour established genres, ideas, or products over the proposed new ones.
• Opposition from Critics and Taste-Makers: Influential critics or cultural gatekeepers may actively dislike or condemn the new cultural offering, discouraging public acceptance.
• Resistance from Distribution Channels and Venues: Establishments or platforms that control access to the public (e.g., music venues, publishers, media outlets) may refuse to promote or feature the new cultural form.
• Perception as Low-Class or Anti-Aspirational: The new offering might be viewed by certain segments of society, particularly those considered well-to-do or influential, as inferior or undesirable.

Overcoming these obstacles involves implementing specific strategies and tactics aimed at manipulating the cultural landscape.

Tactics and Strategies of Cultural Engineering:

• Restricting Access for Rivals: Limiting the opportunities for competing genres or ideas to reach the public.
• Establishing Control over Key Infrastructure: Gaining dominance over essential components of the cultural production and distribution system, such as publishing houses or record labels.
• Using Cartel Tactics: Employing methods, sometimes likened to mafia-like behaviour, to suppress or crowd out potential new entrants or competing forms.
• Ensuring Fidelity: Making acceptance and success within the industry contingent upon adherence to the new cultural form and its controlling entities, making association with alternatives a career impediment.

To address critical opposition, methods involve:

• Discrediting Opposing Voices: Attacking, ridiculing, or generating scandals around individual critics who oppose the new form to lessen their influence.
• Infiltrating Media Outlets: Embedding critics favourable to the new form within influential publications or media channels.
• Creating a Favourable Media Environment: Establishing independent media platforms (e.g., newspapers) to promote the new form if existing outlets are resistant.
• Framing Opposition Through Dialectic: Positioning the resistance to the new form as stemming from old-fashioned, out-of-touch, or irrelevant perspectives, thereby making opposition inadvertently benefit the perception of the new form as modern, hip, and cool. The attacks of older critics can be presented as endorsements of the new form's revolutionary nature.

To overcome resistance from venues and gatekeepers:

• Applying Coercion: Using tactics such as blackmailing or bullying to force venues to feature the new acts or forms.
• Infiltration: Placing individuals sympathetic to the new form in key decision-making positions within venues or institutions.
• Acquisition: Purchasing venues or distribution channels outright if financial resources permit.
• Public Pressure Campaigns: Using friendly media to publicly attack venues or institutions that refuse to participate, portraying them negatively until they comply.

To change the perception of the new form if it is seen as low-class:

• Relentless Positive Messaging: Employing sympathetic media to continuously promote the new form as highly desirable, trendsetting, and representative of coolness.
• Targeting Prestige Outlets: Gaining acceptance and showcasing the new form in high-profile venues, publications, or institutions to elevate its status.
• Reframing Alternatives: Instead of directly labelling established forms as low-class (which may be difficult if they hold historical prestige), portraying them as boring, outdated, or irrelevant.
• Influencing Key Nodes of High Society and Taste-Makers: Once influential individuals and institutions adopt the new form, the general public is likely to follow, adopting the new tastes and believing them to be their own innate preferences.

This orchestrated process can lead to what is sometimes perceived as a "vibe shift" – a seemingly spontaneous change in collective taste or mood. However, from the perspective of cultural engineering, this shift is the result of coordinated efforts by people in key positions of influence pushing a specific message and framing.

NPC Historical analyses suggest that these tactics have been employed in various contexts. The popularisation of Jazz in the United States in the early 20th century is cited as an example where despite initial public indifference and critical hostility, relentless promotion and strategic manoeuvring over approximately a decade led to it becoming a dominant cultural force.

During the Cold War, the US government actively promoted jazz internationally as a symbol of American freedom and racial harmony. Other examples mentioned include the promotion of certain styles of Modern Art, the engineered decline in the popularity of genres like the Western, and campaigns such as Edward Bernays' efforts to link smoking cigarettes with women's liberation.

The underlying principle is that while individuals may believe their tastes and preferences are entirely their own, they are significantly shaped by the cultural environment, which itself can be deliberately manipulated by individuals and groups controlling key points of influence and distribution.

This deliberate shaping of public perception and desire is central to the concept of cultural engineering. This perspective aligns with theoretical ideas on cultural hegemony and the practical application of propaganda and public relations.

Understanding the mechanisms by which culture is influenced from the top down is considered crucial for comprehending how cultural trends emerge and shift. Authoritarian regimes throughout history have often sought control over cultural production and distribution channels precisely to prevent or manage such processes.