Public opinion is one of the most elusive and complex concepts in democratic theory, and we do not fully understand its role in the political process. Reading Public Opinion offers one provocative approach for understanding how public opinion fits into the empirical world of politics. In fact, Susan Herbst finds that public opinion, surprisingly, has little to do with the mass public in many instances. Herbst draws on ideas from political science, sociology, and psychology to explore how three sets of political participants?legislative staffers, political activists, and journalists?actually evaluate and assess public opinion. She concludes that many political actors reject the voice of the people as uninformed and nebulous, relying instead on interest groups and the media for representations of public opinion. Her important and original book forces us to rethink our assumptions about the meaning and place of public opinion in the realm of contemporary democratic politics.
Product Identifiers
Publisher
The University of Chicago Press
ISBN-13
9780226327471
eBay Product ID (ePID)
94438802
Product Key Features
Subject Area
Constitutional Law, Political Science
Author
Susan Herbst
Publication Name
Reading Public Opinion: How Political Actors View the Democratic Process
Format
Paperback
Language
English
Publication Year
1998
Type
Textbook
Number of Pages
266 Pages
Dimensions
Item Height
228mm
Item Width
167mm
Item Weight
462g
Additional Product Features
Title_Author
Susan Herbst
Series Title
Studies in Communication, Media, and Public Opinion (Chup)
Country/Region of Manufacture
United States
Best Selling in Adult Learning & University
Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- Best Selling in Adult Learning & University