Perception and evaluation of public opinion by decision makers: civilian nuclear power in the US
This study treats public opinion as problematic and focuses on the way it is defined, identified, and evaluated by nuclear decision makers in industry, government, and the scientific community. The data are based largely on questionnaire responses and interviews. Though public opinion is a social process amenable to empirical investigation, its identification is not self-evident. It is defined within the context of an already-existing set of often unconscious beliefs and value commitments. Like students of public opinion, decision makers focus on such characteristics of public opinion as its membership, direction, intensity, level of information, prior attitudinal predispositions, and representativeness, and on the factors that influence public opinion. They also select among the indicators of public opinion - those that seem to represent the public as against those that claim to speak for it. They identify public opinion in terms of their beliefs about what public opinion is or should be in a democracy. The antinuclear movement and the mass media are seen as important, but their equation with public opinion is challenged. Decision makers see the antinuclear movement as distinct from, though an important influence on, public opinion. Decision makers believe the public has a legitimate role in negotiating nuclear power issues, but expect the public to be informed through exposure to the relevant information and expertise.
- OSTI ID:
- 5842187
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: Thesis (Ph. D.)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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