Alexander Edward Carey (1 December 1922 – 30 November 1987) was an Australian writer, author,

social psychologist Social psychology is the scientific study of how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by the real or imagined presence of other people or by social norms. Social psychologists typically explain human behavior as a result of the re ...

academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

and sociologist. Praised for his work regarding corporate propaganda, Carey has influenced

Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American public intellectual: a linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is ...

Edward S. Herman Edward Samuel Herman (April 7, 1925 – November 11, 2017) was an American economist, media scholar and social critic. Herman is known for his media criticism, in particular the propaganda model hypothesis he developed with Noam Chomsky, a fr ...

and was called a "second

Orwell Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalitari ...

in his prophesies" by Australian journalist and author

John Pilger John Richard Pilger (; born 9 October 1939) is an Australian journalist, writer, scholar, and documentary filmmaker. He has been mainly based in Britain since 1962. He was also once visiting professor at Cornell University in New York. Pilger ...

Biography

Carey was raised in

Geraldton Geraldton (Wajarri: ''Jambinu'', Wilunyu: ''Jambinbirri'') is a coastal city in the Mid West region of the Australian state of Western Australia, north of the state capital, Perth. At June 2018, Geraldton had an urban population of 37,648. ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

, Carey, Gabrielle ''Moving Among Strangers'',

University of Queensland Press Established in 1948, University of Queensland Press (UQP) is an Australian publishing house. Founded as a traditional university press, UQP has since branched into publishing books for general readers in the areas of fiction, non-fiction, poetr ...

2013 to parents Henry Carey, of Irish ancestry, and Erica Hester, of a Scottish

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

family. His parents were first-cousins. Carey had four siblings, including a twin brother Godfrey who died when he was seven (1922–1930). At twelve, Carey left home (

White Peak The White Peak, also known as the Low Peak, is a Carboniferous limestone, limestone plateau that forms the central and southern part of the Peak District in England. It is mostly between and above sea-level and is enclosed by the higher altitu ...

) for boarding school in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

. Following his graduation the headmaster of the school made the trip to White Peak to convince Carey's parents that he should go on to university. However, Carey stayed in White Peak until he sold the family property, before enrolling at

London University The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree- ...

in the 1950s. From 1958 until his death, he was a lecturer in

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...

at the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensive ...

. The main subjects of his lectures and research were

industrial psychology Industrial and organizational psychology (I-O psychology), an applied discipline within psychology, is the science of human behavior in the workplace. Depending on the country or region of the world, I-O psychology is also known as occupational ...

industrial relations Industrial relations or employment relations is the multidisciplinary academic field that studies the employment relationship; that is, the complex interrelations between employers and employees, labor/trade unions, employer organizations, ...

, and the psychology of

nationalism Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...

and

propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...

. He was one of the founding members of the Australian Humanist Society in 1960. In the 1970s, Carey was prominent in the protest movement against Australian participation in the Vietnam War."Carey, Gabrielle", ''The Oxford Companion to Australian Literature'', William H. Wilde, Joy Hooton, & Barry Andrews, Oxford University Press 1994, Oxford Reference Online, http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t182.e659 He was the father of the noted Australian writer,

Gabrielle Carey Gabrielle Carey (born 10 January 1959) is an Australian writer noted for the teen novel, ''Puberty Blues'', which she co-wrote with Kathy Lette. This novel was the first teenage novel published in Australia that was written by teenagers. Carey h ...

. In 1988,

and

published their '' Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media'' in dedication to the memory of Carey. Claiming that it was Carey who had inspired their work, Chomsky has said, "The real importance of Carey's work is that it's the first effort, and until now the major effort, to bring some of he history of corporate propagandato public attention. It's had a tremendous influence on the work I've done." According to Noam Chomsky, Carey pioneered the study of

corporate propaganda Corporate propaganda refers to propagandist claims made by a corporation (or corporations), for the purpose of manipulating market opinion with regard to that corporation, and its activities. The practices of advertising and public relations a ...

.Noam Chomsky ''The Common Good'', Odonian Press 1998, p. 45 Much of Carey's work in this area remained unpublished and was cut short by his death. In 1995, a collection of his essays (several of them previously unpublished) were published under the title, ''Taking the Risk Out of Democracy: Propaganda in the U.S. and Australia'' (University of New South Wales Press; reissued in 1997 by University of Illinois Press under the title ''Taking the Risk Out of Democracy: Corporate Propaganda versus Freedom and Liberty''). Carey collaborated with Noam Chomsky, studying with him at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

(MIT) for twelve months in 1978 and meeting with him again while on a sabbatical in the United States during the last year of his life. Carey committed suicide in 1987. Members of his family speculated that his reasons included substantial financial losses in the stock market crash of that year and a battle with depression in his final years.Gabrielle Carey, ''In My Father's House'', Pan Macmillan Australia, 1992.

Bibliography

Books *(1995) ''Taking the Risk Out of Democracy: Propaganda in the U.S. and Australia'' – *(1996) ''Taking the Risk Out of Democracy: Corporate Propaganda vs. Freedom and Liberty'' – Edited by

Andrew Lohrey Andrew Barnard Keith Lohrey (born 15 December 1939) is a former Australian politician. Lohrey received a Bachelor of Arts and a PhD before entering politics. He was elected to the Tasmanian House of Assembly as a Australian Labor Party (Tasmani ...

– Academic articles *(1967)
The Hawthorne Studies: A Radical Criticism
' – *(1977)
The Lysenko Syndrome In Western Social Science
' – *(1979)
The Norwegian Experiments In Democracy at Work: A Critique and a Contribution to Reflexive Sociology
' – *(1980)
Word-Power In Politics: "Terror," "Aggression," and "Refugees" in the Semantics of Violence and Repression
' – Essays *(1965)

' – *(1968) ''Of Professors and 'Pacification – *(1968) ''Australian Atrocities In Vietnam'' – *(1968)
The Generations Gap
' – *(1971)
How To Win A People's War
' – *(1973)
Clockwork Vietnam: Gaining Physical Control
' – *(1973)
Clockwork Vietnam II: The Social Engineers Take Over
' – *(1976)
Reshaping the Truth: Pragmatists and Propagandists in America
' – *(1984) ''Cost Benefits of Being a Nuclear Target: Australia's Best Defence Seen In Building Up Our Own Services'' – *(1987)
The Ideological Management Industry
' – *(1987) –
Conspiracy Or Groundswell?
' –

Notes

Notes Citations

External links

Australia's forgotten Chomsky
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Honi Soit ''Honi Soit'' is the student newspaper of the University of Sydney. First published in 1929, the newspaper is produced by an elected editorial team and a select group of reporters sourced from the university's populace. The name is an abbrevia ...

''
On being Australian
by

at ''

Griffith Review ''Griffith Review'' is a quarterly publication featuring essays, reportage, memoir, fiction, poetry and artwork from established and emerging writers and artists. Each edition focuses on a contemporary theme, enabling pertinent issues to be aired ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Carey, Alex 1922 births 1987 deaths 20th-century Australian non-fiction writers Australian psychologists Writers from Western Australia Alumni of the University of London Suicides in Australia 1987 suicides 20th-century psychologists Anti–Vietnam War activists Australian expatriates in the United Kingdom