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List of contents
Introduction: The State of the Art I THE NATURE OF PUBLIC OPINION 1. Historical Tensions in the Concept of Public Opinion 2. Public Opinion and Rationality 3. Levels of Analysis in Public Opinion Research II THE INSTITUTION OF PUBLIC OPINION 4. On the Disappearance of Groups: 19th- and Early 20th-Century Conceptions of Public Opinion 5. The Industry of Public Opinion 6. The Press and the Illusion of Public Opinion: The Strange Case of Ronald Reagan's "Popularity" 7. Propaganda and the Technological System III SOCIAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL CONTEXTS FOR PUBLIC OPINION 8. Social-Psychological Perspectives on Public Opinion 9. The Cognitive Revolution in Public Opinion and Communication Research 10. Opinions, Perception, and Social Reality IV. THE MEDIA OF COMMUNICATION AND THE OPINIONS OF PUBLICS 11. Issues in the News and the Public Agenda: The Agenda-Setting Tradition 13. Origins and Consequences of Mediated Public Opinion 14. Making News and Manufacturing Consent: The Journalistic Narrative and Its Audience V. PUBLIC OPINION AND THE PROMISE OF DEMOCRACY 15. The Press, Public Opinion, and Public Discourse 16. The Influence of Rationality Claims on Public Opinion and Policy 17. Public Opinion as Public Judgment 18. The Politics of Polling and the Limits of Consent
Summary
This volume offers an unprecedented range of scholarly perspectives on the relationship between public opinion and communication. Topics covered include the nature and institutions of public opinion, media influences, social and psychological contexts, and the role that public opinion assessment plays in a democratic society.
