Alice Crary published a paper in 2018 or 2019 that critiqued the model of propaganda presented in the book How Propaganda Works.
Posted by Robinson's Podcast, Checked
- Sources
- 3 support
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 70%
Robinson's PodcastSep 23, 2026
Sources show Alice Crary's 2018 article "The Methodological as Political" critiques Stanley's How Propaganda Works, arguing its neutrality-based framing is problematic. The sources describe the target as the book's neutrality assumptions rather than the specific cognitive model of propaganda the podcast passage mentions, so the claim is supported in substance but the exact framing is not directly confirmed.
What was said
… Is it a spectrum, and are there other important types of political speech that one might conflate with propaganda? Great question. I think there was a theoretical problem with my book, How Propaganda Works, that was pointed out by the philosopher Alice Crary at the New School, uh, in a 2019 paper, I think, or 2018 paper. She pointed out crary points out that the model in How Propaganda Works is that there's this kind of speech that is not, uh, that does not appeal to our rational facilities, that tries to bypass our rational facilities, uh, and, uh, our rational faculties, …
Robinson's Podcast · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Supports. A Muse abstract of an exchange with Beaver and Stanley states that Crary's 2018 article "The Methodological as Political" attacks appeals to neutrality, including one Crary finds in Stanley's 2015 book How Propaganda Works.[1]
Supports. An academic syllabus summary says Crary's 2018 article takes Stanley's How Propaganda Works, along with Fricker's Epistemic Injustice, as representative examples of work assuming a problematic neutral conception of reasons.[2]
Supports. The Radical Philosophy text of Crary's article "The methodological is political: What's the matter with 'analytic feminism'?" presents Fricker's work as representative and argues its methodological conservatism is problematic, consistent with a 2018 critique of the neutrality framework.[3]
Context. The claim's wording ("the model of propaganda") is broader than the sources' description of a critique of the book's neutrality assumptions; the sources do not separately address the cognitive model the podcast passage describes.[1][2]
Sources
3 sources: 1 primary, 2 not rated
- 1Neutrality, Critique, and Social Visibility: Response to David Beaver and Jason Stanleymuse.jhu.edu · primary source · cited for: supports, context
- 2Metodologías activas para el análisis y discusión de textos ...vlclab.blogs.uv.es · not rated · cited for: supports, context
- 3The methodological is politicalradicalphilosophy.com · not rated · cited for: supports
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post
Related claims
- Jason Stanley's book How Propaganda Works was published in 2015.True
- Jason Stanley published a book in formal semantics and philosophy of language in 2023.True
- Jason Stanley published a 500-page book and a 350-page book on propaganda and philosophy of language while working as a public intellectual.True
- Jason Stanley was invited to a State Department conference on propaganda at the Hoover Institute in 2017.Can’t tell
- Jason Stanley was invited to a conference with the CIA in 2017.Can’t tell