ABSTRACT
The coercive moulding of human beings is associated with the social engineering performed by the more odious dictatorships. The methods of social engineering in the democracies are aimed at influencing what we see, what we do, and especially what we buy. These influences can, by and large, be countered by other institutions–periodicals, consumer associations, certain investigative television programmes, and so on–that are created to analyse advertising claims. Influences upon both doing and also on emotional feeling and being are prevalent in Western democracies. In large measure this is a fact of life in social intercourse amongst human beings. This chapter addresses the widest terms, the nature of political systems as well as the nature of moral and ethical activity within a society. Such broad issues can necessarily only be touched on sketchily. The intention is to indicate possible lines of thought.
