This work revisits and expands upon Yankelovichs seminal 1991 book, Coming to Public Judgment, which argued that people advance through several distinct stages to form politically meaningful judgments about public issues. In particular, citizens must -work through- the temptation to opt for easy answers or engage in wishful thinking, reconcile conflicting values, and come to terms with tough tradeoffs, before they can truly support a new course of action. The present work examines these themes in light of changing societal conditions, from the advent of the Internet and the weakening...

This work revisits and expands upon Yankelovichs seminal 1991 book, Coming to Public Judgment, which argued that people advance through several distinct stages to form politically meaningful judgments about public issues. In particular, citizens must -work through- the temptation to opt for easy answers or engage in wishful thinking, reconcile conflicting values, and come to terms with tough tradeoffs, before they can truly support a new course of action. The present work examines these themes in light of changing societal conditions, from the advent of the Internet and the weakening...