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In 1922, Walter Lippmann published this influential book , Public Opinion. In his book, Lippmann was very suspicious and critical of ANY model of democracy that placed much faith and power in the hands of the public. He argued that participatory democracy was NOT workable, that the democratic public was a myth, and that governing should be delegated exclusively to political representatives and their "expert" advisors. Based on empirical evidence that political propaganda and mass advertisement shaped the way people thought, Lippmann also believed that public opinion was highly shaped by leaders. Lippmann called this process of manipulation of public opinion 'the manufacture of consent', a concept borrowed by Noam Chomsky many years later . Lippmann argued, first in 'Public Opinion' and later in 'The Phantom Public', that since ordinary citizens (to him) had no sense of objective reality, and since their ideas are merely stereotypes manipulated at will by people at the top (this is largely true even today, isn't it?) , deliberative democracy was unworkable, an impossible dream. In his view, the best alternative to democracy consisted of a "technocracy" in which government leaders are guided by "experts", whose totally objective, and disinterested knowledge go beyond what HE saw as the narrow views and self-interests of the "average citizens". Lippmann saw advocates of participatory democracy as romantic individuals who idealized the role of the ignorant masses to address public affairs and who proposed an unrealistic model for the emerging mass society. He opposed such a model with his own model of 'democratic realism' based on political representation and "technical expertise". John Dewey, in his response to Lippmann, first in a review published in The New Republic (1922), and later in his book The Public and its Problems (1927), contended that democracy should not be confined to the "enlightened" administrators or industrial leaders, and highlighted the importance of public deliberation in political decision-making, & proposed that policies should remain a public trust which must not be easi;y manipulated by private interests. Students of political science will enjoy this very old book on Lippmann's notion of the inability & ineptitude of the public to hold the reins of democracy. Lippmann's opinions do NOT reflect my own in any way.Read full review
I don't necessarily have an interest in the subject material, but I do like the ideas expressed in the writing. I had to write a paper on this book.
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