Noam Chomsky theory. Social manipulation of reality
- Ryszard Skarbek
- Mar 8, 2022
- 12 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
Avram Noam Chomsky, an American Laureate Professor of Linguistics at the University of Arizona and Institute Professor Emeritus at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT, is one of the most cited scientists in the world. This is partly due to his rich work (he has written over 150 books on topics such as linguistics, war, and politics) but also to many, often moving, quotes.
He is called the father of modern linguistics, and his top contribution to the achievements of Mankind is the theory of linguistics. Chomsky is also a major figure in analytic philosophy and one of the founders of cognitive science.
But he is not only a respected and highly valued scientist. He is known for his political activism and social criticism. He became famous for his bold, often ruthless views on geopolitics and manipulation, which we are increasingly subject to in the modern world. He is loved and despised equally. He does not shy away from being heard in good and bad times. He gained notoriety for his often radical political views, which he describes as libertarian socialist. That requires tremendous courage (in American conditions).
Today, I would like to share a THEORY OF MANIPULATION that Chomsky developed while observing the modern world. I am curious about which points will appeal to you the most. You may find something there that you know from your experience.
American linguist and philosopher Noam Chomsky: a short biography.
Avram Noam Chomsky was born on December 7, 1928, in Philadelphia. His parents were Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. His father, William Chomsky, is originally from what is now Ukraine, and his mother, Elsie Simonofsky, is originally from what is now Belarus. Their first language was Yiddish. Noam later described his friends and family life as a kind of Jewish ghetto and recalled the personal harassment he experienced as a child at the hands of Irish and German Catholics in the mid-1930s. His parents were educated men. His father held a Ph.D. in Hebrew studies and was the principal of Gratz College for many years.
From a young age, Chomsky had a wide and varied interests, and his greatest passion was linguistics. He admitted that his father's doctoral dissertation on David Kimhi’s medieval Hebrew grammar influenced his later thinking about language skills. As a young man, he frequented alternative bookstores in New York. That might have influenced his ability to think independently and shaped his sensitivity to disinformation.
In 1945, at the age of 16, Chomsky began studying at the University of Pennsylvania, a prestigious university and among the very few open to Jews (accepting Jews was not yet a given in the United States at that time). There, in 1955, he earned a Ph.D. in linguistic structuralism. He also studied philosophy under the tutelage of the famous Nelson Goodman.
In 1961, he became a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT. He worked there until 2002, when he formally retired and became institute professor emeritus, but continued to conduct research and seminars. Moreover, in 2017, at the age of 89, he was hired as a part-time professor at the University of Arizona in Tucson, where he continues to give lectures. This is a rare exception.
In 1949, Chomsky married Carol Doris Schatz, also a linguist. Their marriage lasted 59 years until his wife died of cancer in December 2008. Interestingly, in 2014, 6 years after the death of his first wife, at the age of 86, he married Valeria Wasserman.
From his first marriage, he has two daughters, Aviva and Diana, and a son, Harry. Aviva is a professor of history and coordinator of Latin American and Caribbean studies at Salem State University in Massachusetts. She previously taught at Bates College in Maine and was a research fellow at Harvard University, where she specialized in the history of the Caribbean and Latin America.
He gained international recognition thanks to his revolutionary linguistic concepts published in the second half of the 1950s. His work in the field of linguistics changed the way people perceive and understand language and its structure. The theory of Transformational-Generative Grammar, co-created with Morris Halle, stands out.
Cognitive science and linguistic theories.
His 1957 publication Syntactic Structures was a breakthrough that challenged the then-prevailing statistical linguistics. He introduced the concepts of generative grammar, transformational grammar, universal grammar, Chomsky hierarchy, and the minimalist program. He stated that the human brain is designed to understand linguistic structures. A universal set of rules exists and governs all human languages. Therefore, according to him, our ability to use language is an innate human trait.
He also created the concept of a biological tool responsible for language acquisition in children (LAD, the language acquisition device), which he often refers to as the Chomsky gene. This had a serious impact on psychologists and linguists who studied the process of language acquisition in children.
He postulated that language is a part of the human mind, a part that each human being is born with. A child learning their native language is just undergoing the process of shaping that part into a particular form. In terms of the Principles and Parameters Theory, language learning is setting the value of the parameters.
He also opposed the then-prevailing behaviorism and its prominent representative, B. F. Skinner. The behaviorist movement treated the brain as a black box. Stimuli enter, and reactions emerge, but we do not know what is happening inside.
The strongest criticism of this concept is Chomsky's review of Skinner's publication titled Verbal Behavior. He strongly opposed the statement that language is a set of learned habits. He also introduced an important distinction between internal and external language. In his opinion, human language is used internally, not for external communication.
In external communication, the so-called e-language (English external) is used, which consists of many forms that do not constitute a coherent whole. Almost everything we do consciously or unconsciously can be used to communicate. For example, clothing, nonverbal messages, pheromones, etc.. But this is not language. For example, there is no grammatical syntax. Communication can be characterized by great creativity, but it is not language. The two concepts must be correctly distinguished.
Chomsky is widely recognized as one of the most prominent linguists in the field of cognitive science, a public figure, and one of the most influential intellectuals of the 20th and 21st Centuries.
He has contributed to the study of language and philosophy (incl. philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, and philosophy of science), psychology, computer science, and programming languages. In his most recent publications, he tries to unify his theories of language and mind with neuroscience and the newest theories of the physical brain.
In the history of science, he has already established a position comparable to that of Copernicus, Darwin, and Einstein. Why? Because he has made a scientific revolution in his field.
What makes Chomsky special is not only linguistics. Also, political views.
However, he is not only a respected and highly valued scientist and professor in the field of cognitive science. He has become famous for his bold, often ruthless views on regimes and geopolitics. He intends to protect individuals who, in the modern world, are increasingly controlled and steered by the system.
He is loved and despised in equal measure. He does not shy away from being heard, both in good times and bad. He gained fame, among other things, for his often radical views, which he describes as libertarian socialist. This, in American conditions, requires great courage. This may be because Noam Chomsky is of Belarusian-Ukrainian origin.
He has been involved in numerous political movements, mainly in the fields of civil rights, human rights, democracy, and global issues. He was critical of US foreign policy, mainly in the context of what he considered senseless military interventions and the violation of human rights. He clearly expressed his controversial and critical opinions on this subject.
He gained particular attention in 1967 with his anti-war essay The Responsibility of Intellectuals, criticizing the involvement of the USA in the Vietnam War. His political activism also included criticism of the media. In the book Consent to Domination, he discusses the model of propaganda used by the media. This model has been empirically tested and confirmed.
In addition to linguistics, his works cover topics such as globalization, capitalism, the free market, media theory, psychological abuse, and the role of intellectuals in society.
His influence on many scientific areas, culture, and politics is difficult to overestimate. Chomsky is active as a publicist, teacher, and lecturer, inspiring successive generations of researchers and thinkers. He has given many interviews and answered countless questions. Among the open conversations, it is worth watching the discussion posted below. It demonstrates how Chomsky perceived the policies of US President George Bush.
Noam Chomsky's theory of reality manipulation.
Here are 10 points that constitute Professor Chomsky's theory of social manipulation. They explain precisely how easily a biased perception of reality may be created.
1. Distract attention
A key element of social control is distracting attention from important issues and changes made by political and economic elites through constant distraction and a flood of public opinion with irrelevant information. A distraction strategy is the key to preventing the public from becoming interested in basic knowledge of science, economics, psychology, neurobiology, and cybernetics.
Keep public opinion away from real social problems. Do it by enslaving them with unimportant matters. Society must be busy all the time, with no time to think.
2. Generate a problem and propose a solution
This approach is also referred to as the problem-response-solution sequence. Create a situation (problem) that prompts recipients to take immediate steps to correct it. For example, allow violence to spread and the public to agree to tighten the legal norms to protect their security at the cost of their freedom. Or create an economic crisis to justify radical cuts in welfare benefits.
3. Introduce changes gradually
Do not make radical changes; act gradually. Push the boundaries of endurance and acceptance step by step to the endurance limit, breaking down changes over the years. Thus, radical socio-economic changes in the 1980s and 1990s were successfully pushed through and led to the formation of the neoliberal economy. Minimum benefits, privatization, tomorrow uncertainty, employment flexibility, mass unemployment, low wages, and no guarantee of a decent income. Introducing such changes would simultaneously trigger a revolution.
4. Postpone changes
Another way to introduce an unwelcome change is to present it as a painful necessity we have to make.
It is easier for people to accept the specter of future sacrifice than to make a change immediately. Moreover, societies tend to naively believe that everything will be fine and that sacrifice may be avoided. This strategy gives you more time to get used to the awareness of the change. When the time comes, you put it into practice and embrace it with an attitude of resignation.
5. Talk to the public as you would talk to a child
Most advertising and communications to the general public use language and argumentation to address children or the mentally ill. So simplified and downright infantile. The more you want to blur the image of reality for your interlocutor, the more you try to infantilize the message. Why?
If you talk to a person as if they were 12, they are likely to respond or react uncritically as if they were 12 or under.
6. Focus on emotions, not rationality
Using emotions is a classic technique designed to eliminate rational analysis and common sense. Emotionally marked language makes it possible to subconsciously instill ideas, desires, fears, anxieties, and impulses and thus, induce specific behaviors.
7. Keep people ignorant
Make society unable to understand the methods of exercising control.
Education offered to the lower classes must be poor enough so that the ignorance gap between the lower and upper persists, and control techniques remain incomprehensible to the lower classes.
8. Promote mediocrity (!)
Make the public believe it is okay to be stupid, vulgar, and uneducated.
9. Make people feel guilty
Let individuals believe they are the only ones to blame for their failures through a lack of intelligence, abilities, or effort. In this way, instead of rebelling against the economic system that puts the individual at a disadvantage, the person will live in guilt and devaluation of self-worth. In this state, the person will become passive and unable to take action to change the system. And passivity means no revolution.
10. Get to know people better than they can themselves
Over the past 50 years, rapid scientific advances have created a widening gap between the resources of knowledge generated and what is available (and translated) to the masses. Thanks to biology, neurobiology, and psychology, the power elite can acquire advanced knowledge about individuals and society. This allows the elite to know a man better than he can know himself. That means the elite can have more control over individuals than themselves.
According to Chomsky, propaganda has always been creating lies and half-truths.
However, it is a great tool for spreading false information so that as many people as possible believe it and lose their sense of reality. Be vigilant and notice how frequently repeated lies bombard us from all sides.
“Everywhere from popular culture to the propaganda system, there is constant pressure to make people feel helpless. And the only role they can play is to accept all decisions and blindly pursue constant consumerism.”
Noam Chomsky quotes.
Here’s a list of the most famous and widely cited quotes by Noam Chomsky, grouped by theme (politics, media, education, and human nature). These quotes reflect his deep insights as a linguist, philosopher, and political thinker.
🧠 On Language, Thought & Human Nature.
“Language is a process of free creation; its laws and principles are fixed, but the manner in which the principles of generation are used is free and infinitely varied.” — Reflections on Language (1975)
“A language is not just words. It's a culture, a tradition, a unification of a community, a whole history that creates what a community is.”
“The ability to speak and think is part of what it means to be human.”
📺 On Media & Propaganda.
“The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum.” — The Common Good (1998)
“Propaganda is to a democracy what the bludgeon is to a totalitarian state.” — Media Control: The Spectacular Achievements of Propaganda (1997)
“If we don’t believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don’t believe in it at all.” — Guardian interview, 1992
🎓 On Education & Critical Thinking.
“The whole educational and professional training system is a very elaborate filter, which just weeds out people who are too independent, and who think for themselves.” — Class Warfare (1996)
“Education is a system of imposed ignorance.”
“The purpose of education is to show people how to learn for themselves.”
🌍 On Politics, Power & Ethics.
“It is the responsibility of intellectuals to speak the truth and expose lies.”
“Optimism is a strategy for making a better future. Because unless you believe that the future can be better, you are unlikely to step up and take responsibility for making it so.” — Interview with The Nation (2010)
“States are not moral agents, people are, and can impose moral standards on powerful institutions.”
“Either you repeat the same conventional doctrines everybody is saying, or else you say something true, and it will sound like it's from Neptune.”
🕊️ On War, Justice & the U.S. Role in the World.
“The United States is unusual among the major powers in the contemporary world in having a powerful, doctrinal system that essentially serves as a propaganda system for the elite interests.”
“For the powerful, crimes are those that others commit.” — Imperial Ambitions (2005)
“You never need an argument against the use of violence, you need an argument for it.”
🧩 On Truth, Doubt & Freedom of Thought.
“We shouldn’t be looking for heroes, we should be looking for good ideas.”
“As soon as questions of will or decision or reason or choice of action arise, human science is at a loss.”
“Freedom without opportunity is a devil’s gift, and the refusal to provide such opportunities is criminal.”
Noam Chomsky's major works.
Writings on linguistics
Current Issues in Linguistic Theory (1964),
Aspects of the Theory of Syntax (1965),
The Sound Pattern of English (with Morris Halle, 1968),
Language and Mind (1972),
Studies on Semantics in Generative Grammar (1972),
Knowledge of Language (1986).
Books on politics
American Power and the New Mandarins (1969),
Peace in the Middle East? (1974),
Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media (with Edward S. Herman, 1988),
Profit over People (1998),
Rogue States (2000),
Hegemony or Survival (2003),
Gaza in Crisis (with Ilan Pappé, 2010),
On Western Terrorism: From Hiroshima to Drone Warfare (2013).
Major Awards & Honors
Year | Award / Honor | Awarding Body / Institution |
1970 | Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences | American Academy of Arts and Sciences |
1974 | Member of the National Academy of Sciences | U.S. National Academy |
1988 | Kyoto Prize in Basic Sciences | Inamori Foundation (Japan) |
1996 | Helmholtz Medal | Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (Germany) |
1999 | Benjamin Franklin Medal in Computer and Cognitive Science | Franklin Institute (USA) |
2005 | Prospect World's Top 100 Public Intellectuals (ranked No. 1) | Prospect Magazine (UK) |
2010 | Erich Fromm Prize | International Erich Fromm Society (Germany) |
2011 | Sydney Peace Prize | Sydney Peace Foundation (Australia) |
2013 | Global Exchange Human Rights Award | Global Exchange (USA) |
2017 | Edward Said Memorial Lecture Honoree | American University of Beirut |
2022 | Peace Award from the Irish Peace and Neutrality Alliance | PANA (Ireland) |
See also other biographies:
David Clutterbuck - the father of modern mentoring in Europe
Sir John Whitmore - the father of business coaching
Marilyn vos Savant - a person with the highest IQ in the world
Byron Katie – who would you be without your story?
Maurice Ravel – engineer or composer?
Andrea Bocelli – dare to live
Fritz Perls – short biography, quotes
The Beatles as a role model for a perfectly functioning team?
Check the term gaslighting (originating from the phrase "gas lighting"), different forms of gaslighting (incl. emotional abuse and verbal abuse), and their influence on mental health.
coaching vs. mentoring vs. counseling vs. consulting
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