Lippmanns Analysis on the Pattern of Public Opinion

Walter Lippmanns book entitled Public Opinion thoroughly discussed the definition of public opinion, how it is formed, and what role does it play in the society and in a democratic community. Public opinion is powerful, and it is important to explore what leads its formation in order to give explanation to its bearing in the society. Lippmanns book explained the patterns that public opinion usually have and discussed how the symbols and images that people have translate into meaningful messages for them and become the basis of their opinions.

Public opinion is formed through the triangular action of what is actually taking place, what is depicted by humans from what is happening, and what is the human response to the action that is happening (Lippmann 9). This is the pattern that public opinion usually follows. And based from this pattern, public opinion is a result of what people see, what they believe from what they see, and how they picture the world as a whole. Also, it is highlighted in the book that the ideas which we allow the words we read to evoke form the biggest part of the original data of our opinions (Lippmann 37).

The biggest part of how opinions are formed can be attributed with a persons particular imagination and way of interpreting things. This does not mean that public opinions are based from lies or unreasonable interpretations rather it just proves that they are based from how people conceive the things happening around them.

Humans only have limited access to all the information in the world, despite the innovations of technological progress, because their minds can only contain as much as they can. From these limited messages from outside, patterns of stereotypes that are identified from a persons interests are conceived (Lippmann 16). These stereotypes and opinions then grow to become what is recognized as public opinion. Therefore, the formation of the pictures or facts for humans is also greatly dependent on what is provided to them.

Lippmanns book also discussed that opinions become public when their concerns merge with concerns of other human beings. Public affairs are consists of things that are important to more than one persons. And when one persons opinion or imagery transcends and began including his relationships with other human beings, this instantly becomes the basis for public opinion. The images or symbols that a person usually have of an object or reality, when added together with other peoples personal imagery or interpretation, becomes public opinion all together. Also, those pictures which are acted upon by groups of people, or by individuals acting in the name of groups, are Public Opinion with capital letters (Lippmann 16). The explanation of how ones opinions grow into public opinion provides a clearer discussion on what are the patterns of public opinion.

To relate a modern example of public opinion with Lippmanns explanation of the pattern of public opinion, the data available from American National Election Studies (ANES) are taken into consideration. One of their available data is derived from the question text that America would be better it we just stayed home and did not concern ourselves with problems in the other parts of the world (www.electionstudies.org). The question was an important concern to be raised because it greatly affects the future lawmaking process of the government and it encapsulates the vision that Americans have of their country as a major key player of the affairs of the world.

Based on the results, in 2004, 79 percent of the population surveyed disagreed with the question text and only 21 percent agreed that America should not concern itself anymore with the problems of the world. The interpretations of the data translate into what is the image of the Americans of their country. The results would only mean that Americans recognize the importance of their nation in solving the problems of the world. In fact, they continuously feel proud of their countrys contributions and that it should not stop in becoming part of the solution. This image is an important description on how Americans form their opinions about their nation. According to Lippmann, the symbolism of public opinion usually bears, as we shall see, the marks of this balancing of interest which means that public opinion represent what the personal prejudices of the people and what they believe would be best for them (6). The results that ANES had only prove that there are more Americans who continue to believe in the countrys image of being a supreme powerful nation and its role of being a liberator of many problem-stricken parts of the word. Americans still feel proud because they see their nation, and themselves, as vital factors of our world and this is an important consideration for them when they conceptualize how to run their country. Their opinions prove that they are interested in mattering in this world through their nation.

For Lippmann, public opinion is a result of the images and pictures that humans have over particular realities. Pattern of public opinion prove that the response of the people is dependent on their personal interpretation of the different things happening around them, which is also based from what is fed to them. These images or pictures that people usually have of a certain thing transform into their opinions and when more people are together for the same imagery, this conceived prejudices achieve greater strength and become public opinion that could be influential to the people and acted upon by the society.

0 comments:

Post a Comment