Public Opinion: Developments and Controversies in the Twentieth Century

A survey of the historical roots, theoretical foundations and normative claims of 20th-century conceptualizations of public opinion. It re-analyzes leading traditions, such as those of Lippmann, Dewey and Noelle-Neumann, and reinvents some justly ignored ones, such as Tsnnies, Harrisson, and Wilson. The book critically examines popular modern research strategies such as polling and the spiral of silence model and looks at the role of the mass media in the formation and expression of public opinion.