Public Opinion 1560009993, 9781560009993

Table of contents :
Cover
Title Page
Epigraph
Contents
Introduction to the Transaction Edition
Part I: Introduction
I. The World Outside and the Pictures in Our Heads
Part II: Approaches to the World Outside
II. Censorship and Privacy
III. Contact and Opportunity
IV. Time and Attention
V. Speed, Words, and Clearness
Part III: Stereotypes
VI. Stereotypes
VII. Stereotypes as Defense
VIII. Blind Spots and Their Value
IX. Codes and Their Enemies
X. The Detection of Stereotypes
Part IV: Interests
XI. The Enlisting of Interest
XII. Self-Interest Reconsidered
Part V: The Making of a Common Will
XIII. The Transfer of Interest
XIV. Yes or No
XV. Leaders and the Rank and File
Part VI: The Image of Democracy
XVI. The Self-Centered Man
XVII. The Self-Contained Community
XVIII. The Role of Force, Patronage and Privilege
XIX. The Old Image in a New Form: Guild Socialism
XX. A New Image
Part VII: Newspapers
XXI. The Buying Public
XXII. The Constant Reader
XXIII. The Nature of News
XXIV. News, Truth, and a Conclusion
Part VIII: Organized Intelligence
XXV. The Entering Wedge
XXVI. Intelligence Work
XXVII. The Appeal to the Public
XXVIII. The Appeal to Reason
Index

Citation preview

PUBLIC OPINION

Walter Lippmann

With a New Introduction

by

Michael Curtis

•

Transaction Publishers

New Brunswick

(U.S.A.) and London (U.K.)

Second printing 1998 New material this edition copyright © 1991 by Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08903. Originally published in 1992 by The Macmillan Company. © 1922 by Walter Lippmenn. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information stor­ age and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. All inquiries should be addressed to Transaction Publishers, Rutgers-The State Univer­ sity, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08903. This book is printed on acid-free paper that meets the American National Standard for Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials. Library of Congress Catalog Number: 97-28875 ISBN: 1-56000-999-3 Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Lippmann, Walter, 1889-1974. Public opinion I Walter Lippmann ; with a new introduction by Michael Curtis. p.

em.

Originally published: New York : Macmillan, 1922. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1-56000-999-3 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Public opinion.

2. Public opinion-United States.

4. Social psychology-United States. ment.

3. Social psychology.

5. United States-Politics and govern­

I. Title.

HM261

1997b

303.3'8--f'humari be1ngs, and the most well kno'wii""works were written by" refugees from Nazi Germany. A prominent example is Erich Fromm's Escape from Freedom, highly relevant to his day, with its insight that the unwillingness to exercise freedom and the yearning for certainty led to the accep­ tance of Fascism and Nazism. ·---

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PUBLIC OPINION

XXVI

Stereoty_Q��E§ LillP..lJ.l�J!n !lJlplied._J?�'?_C?_�-� �?.pie, or-o·y· - i ndividuals acting i n the name of gro1,1ps, are Public Opinion with capi tal letters .. And so in the chapters which follow we shall inquire

PUBLIC OPINION

first in to some of the reasons why the pictur�jJJ._sj_ge so often misleads men -in . their . dealings w i th_the world outside. Under this hea d i ng we shall consider firs t the chief factors which limit thei.r .acce§_§.J9 the facts:-Tfl�y are the arti fi ci a l s_en sorships, the_lim� ­ t16-ns of's�cial contact, the comparatively meager time available in each ci�J for p