Alexander Edward Carey (1 December 1922 – 30 November 1987) was an Australian social psychologist and university lecturer who analysed corporate propaganda. Carey influenced Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Herman; he was called a "second Orwell in his prophesies" by Australian journalist John Pilger.

Biography Carey was raised in Geraldton, Western Australia,Carey, Gabrielle Moving Among Strangers, University of Queensland Press 2013 to parents Henry Carey, of Irish ancestry, and Erica Hester, of a Scottish Protestant 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) for boarding school in Perth. 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 in the 1950s. He had served as a gunner in the Royal Australian Artillery's 3rd Field Regiment from September 1941 to March 1943.Australia's Dept. of Veterans' Affairs, Nominal Rolls, https://nominal-rolls.dva.gov.au/veteran?id=816524&c=WW2#R , accessed 4 Sept 2026

From 1958 until his death, he was a lecturer in psychology at the University of New South Wales. The main subjects of his lectures and research were industrial psychology, industrial relations, and the psychology of nationalism and propaganda. 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 Australian writer, Gabrielle Carey.

In 1988, Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Herman 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 [the history of corporate propaganda] to public attention. It's had a tremendous influence on the work I've done."pp. 28–29, Noam Chomsky, Class Warfare, Pluto Press 1996.

According to Noam Chomsky, Carey pioneered the study of corporate propaganda.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 (MIT) for twelve months in 1978Andrew Lohrey, in Taking the Risk Out of Democracy: Corporate Propaganda versus Freedom and Liberty, p. 5 and meeting with him again while on a sabbatical in the United States during the last year of his life.p. 261, Gabrielle Carey, In My Father's House, Pan Macmillan Australia, 1992.

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 –

Selected 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 –

Selected essays (1965) What Is Humanism?: Humanism and Action – (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? –

NotesNotesCitations'''

External links

Australia's forgotten Chomsky at Honi Soit On being Australian by Gabrielle Carey at Griffith Review''