From Zoroaster to Star Wars, Jesus to Marx: The Art, Science, and Technology of Mass Human Manipulation

Abstract
This article argues that societies are governed not only through force and economics, but through narrative infrastructures: engineered meaning systems that legitimate hierarchy, frame enemies, define salvation, and script obedience. It traces a lineage of master narratives and shows how these frames penetrate religion, philosophy, and popular culture—then calls for deliberate, emancipatory replacement narratives that support autonomy, authentic spirituality, and collective survival.

In From Zoroaster to Star Wars, two key analytic terms do a lot of heavy lifting: Symbol Factories and Ideological Institutions. Symbol Factories are the “creative” sites—often secretive/elite settings—where master narratives are produced, reproduced, revised, and updated across time (think: places where the symbolic/archetypal templates get engineered). Ideological Institutions, by contrast, don’t primarily invent or revise the narrative; they specialize in distribution—they push the hegemonic story into mass consciousness through symbol, story, and drama, typically onto people who are largely unaware of the process. The paper also notes that some organizations can function as both (e.g., a group may help renovate a narrative internally while also performing it ritually to socialize members), and it suggests you can further classify these institutions as esoteric/exoteric and religious/secular depending on whether they are closed/open and whether they distribute religious or secular versions of the same underlying frame.

Key Points

• Treats master narratives as technologies of governance (meaning-making as control).
• Tracks the diffusion of narrative elements across religion and popular culture.
• Introduces analytic vocabulary for studying narrative production and dissemination.
• Ends with a reform agenda: build narratives that support autonomy, peace, and authentic connection.

Recommended citation: Sosteric, Mike. (2024). "From Zoroaster to Star Wars, Jesus to Marx: The Art, Science, and Technology of Mass Human Manipulation." *Athens Journal of Philosophy*, 3(4). https://doi.org/10.30958/ajphil.3-4-1
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