Collective Preferences in Democratic Politics: Opinion Surveys and the Will of the People

ISBN-13: 9780521527873 / Angielski / Miękka / 2003 / 388 str.

Scott L. Althaus

Opis

Since so few people appear knowledgeable about public affairs, one might question whether collective policy preferences revealed in opinion surveys accurately convey the distribution of voices and interests in a society. Scott Althaus' comprehensive analysis of the relationship between knowledge, representation, and political equality (in opinion surveys) leads to surprising answers. Knowledge does matter, and the way it is dispensed in society can cause collective preferences to reflect opinions disproportionately. Accordingly, the study can help survey researchers, journalists, politicians, and concerned citizens better appreciate the problems and potentials of the usage of opinion polls to represent the people's voice.

Recenzje

"Proponents of democratic decision making usually avert their eyes from the fact that many citizens know little about the issues on which they are asked to make judgments or, even worse, they 'know' things that are factually mistaken. Scott Althaus addresses this problem head-on and finds that variations in knowledge do indeed bias the outcomes of opinion surveys in a troubling way. But not always, and not unavoidably--this is no jeremiad. Instead, Althaus gives sensible, thoughtful, usable suggestions for overcoming problems that most would rather ignore. This is a vitally important book for all who care about both democracy and political fairness." Jennifer L. Hochschild, Harvard University

Spis treści

1. Introduction; Part I. Illusions of Aggregation: 2. The power of noise; 3. Who speaks for the people?; Part II. Information Effects in Collective Preferences: 4. The impact of information effects; 5. The structure and causes of information effects; 6. The temporal dynamics of information effects; Part III. Opinion Surveys and Democratic Politics: 7. Opinion surveys and the will of the people; 8. What surveys can tell us about public opinion.