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

ISBN-13: 9780521820998 / Angielski / Twarda / 2003 / 386 str.

Scott L. Althaus

Opis

It advises how to make better use 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.