Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- List of Illustrations and Boxes -- Preface -- PART ONE: INTRODUCING PUBLIC OPINION -- 1 The Meanings of Public Opinion -- Why Study Public Opinion? -- The Meaning of Public Opinion -- Dimensions of Public Opinion -- Which Meaning of Public Opinion Is Best? -- 2 The History of Public Opinion -- Why Does History Matter? -- Pre-Enlightenment Philosophies of Public Opinion -- Public Opinion in the Age of Revolution -- Public Opinion Theories: The Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries -- The Social History of Public Opinion: Expression and Measurement -- Pre-nineteenth-century Opinion Communication Techniques -- 3 Methods for Studying Public Opinion -- Survey Research: Aggregating Individual Opinions -- Focus Groups: Using Group Dynamics to Measure Public Opinion -- Experimental Methods and Opinion Research -- Content Analysis of Mass Media: "Archives" of Public Opinion -- Conclusion -- PART TWO: THEORIES OF PUBLIC OPINION -- 4 Public Opinion and Democratic Theory -- Why Theories? -- Meanings and Mechanisms of Democracy -- Normative Theories of Democracy and the Problem of Democratic Competence -- Empirical Theories of Public Opinion and Policy -- Elements of Democratic Competence -- Conclusion -- 5 Psychological Perspectives on Public Opinion -- Speaking the Language: Beliefs, Values, Attitudes, and Opinions -- Early Theories of Attitude Formation and Change: The Legacies of Behaviorism -- Cognitive Processing: What Happens When People Think -- Consistency and Judgmental Theories: Attitudes Come in Packages -- Motivational Theories: Same Attitude, Different Reason -- Links Between Attitudes and Behavior: What People Think and What They Do -- Emotions and Attitudes -- Conclusion -- 6 Stereotyping, Social Norms, and Public Opinion -- Attribution Theory -- Stereotyping.

Social Norms -- Sociological Accounts of Opinion: Traces of In-Group Conformity? -- Conclusion -- 7 Perception and Opinion Formation -- The Limits of Perception -- Perception and Opinion: Socialization and Social Comparison -- Perception and Public Opinion Formation -- Public Opinion as a Social Process -- Conclusion and Implications for the Future -- 8 Economic Approaches -- Induction and Deduction -- Economic Explanations and Rational Choice Perspectives -- Rational Choice and Psychology -- Conclusion -- PART THREE: PUBLIC OPINION IN CONTEXT -- 9 Content and Conflict in Public Opinion -- The Public's Level of Political Knowledge -- American Public Opinion: Consensus and Contestation -- Understanding American Attitudes about Race -- Conclusion -- 10 Public Opinion and Policymaking -- Constraint, Impulsion, or Irrelevance? -- Testing Policy Responsiveness -- Changes and Variations in Responsiveness to Public Opinion -- Is Government Responsiveness to Public Opinion Democratic? -- Conclusion -- 11 Mass Media, Campaigning, and the Public -- Communication, Mass Media, and Public Opinion: Early Development and Perspectives -- Who Decides What the Media Present? -- The Effects of Mass Media on Public Opinion -- Reconsiderations of Media Effects -- Campaigning and Opinion Change -- Election Campaigns -- Conclusion: How Well Do the Media Serve Public Opinion? -- 12 Looking Ahead -- Index.

This book offers a comprehensive and interdisciplinary examination of how public opinion is formed and charged, as well as how it affects democratic society.

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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2018. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.