# Public Opinion

Public Opinion is a 1922 book on media and democracy by Walter Lippmann. Among other things, it argues that 20th century advances in the technology of "the manufacture of consent" amount to "a revolution" in "the practice of democracy" because this allows the control over public opinion about the world and about the public's interests in that world. Control of public opinion is a means to controlling public behavior. Warning: template has been deprecated.
By Walter Lippmann:
    The Poems of Paul Mariett. Edited with an Introduction
    A Preface to Politics
    Drift and Mastery
    The Stakes of Diplomacy
    The Political Scene: An Essay on the Victory of 1918
    Liberty and the News
PUBLIC OPINION
BY
WALTER LIPPMANN
NEW YORK THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
1929
COPYRIGHT, 1922,
BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
Printed in the U. S. A.
TO FAYE LIPPMANN
Wading River, Long Island. 1921.
"Behold! human beings living in a sort of underground den, which has a mouth open towards the light and reaching all across the den; they have been here from their childhood, and have their legs and necks chained so that they cannot move, and can only see before them; for the chains are arranged in such a manner as to prevent them from turning round their heads. At a distance above and behind them the light of a fire is blazing, and between the fire and the prisoners there is a raised way; and you will see, if you look, a low wall built along the way, like the screen which marionette players have before them, over which they show the puppets.
I see, he said.
And do you see, I said, men passing along the wall carrying vessels, which appear over the wall; also figures of men and animals, made of wood and stone and various materials; and some of the prisoners, as you would expect, are talking, and some of them are silent?
This is a strange image, he said, and they are strange prisoners.
Like ourselves, I replied; and they see only their own shadows, or the shadows of one another, which the fire throws on the opposite wall of the cave?
True, he said: how could they see anything but the shadows if they were never allowed to move their heads?
And of the objects which are being carried in like manner they would see only the shadows?
Yes, he said.
And if they were able to talk with one another, would they not suppose that they were naming what was actually before them?"—The Republic of Plato, Book Seven. (Jowett Translation.)
CONTENTS
* ChapterPART I. INTRODUCTIONPage
* I.The World Outside and the Pictures in Our Heads................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................3
* PART II. APPROACHES TO THE WORLD OUTSIDE
* II.Censorship and Privacy................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................35
* III.Contact and Opportunity................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................46
* IV.Time and Attention................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................58
* V.Speed, Words, and Clearness................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................64
* PART III. STEREOTYPES
* VI.Stereotypes................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................79
* VII.Stereotypes as Defense................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................95
* VIII.Blind Spots and Their Value................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................104
* IX.Codes and Their Enemies................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................115
* X.The Detection of Stereotypes................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................130
* PART IV. INTERESTS
* XI.The Enlisting of Interest................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................159
* XII.Self-Interest Reconsidered................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................170
* PART V. THE MAKING OF A COMMON WILL
* XIII.The Transfer of Interest................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................193
* XIV.Yes or No................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................220
* XV.Leaders and the Rank and File................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................234
* PART VI. THE IMAGE OF DEMOCRACY
* XVI.The Self-Centered Man................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................253
* XVII.The Self-Contained Community................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................263
* XVIII.The Role of Force, Patronage, and Privilege................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................276
* XIX.The Old Image in a New Form: Guild Socialism................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................293
* XX.A New Image................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................310
* PART VII. NEWSPAPERS
* XXI.The Buying Public................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................317
* XXII.The Constant Reader................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................328
* XXIII.The Nature of News................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................338
* XXIV.News, Truth, and a Conclusion................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................358
* PART VIII. ORGANIZED INTELLIGENCE
* XXV.The Entering Wedge................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................369
* XXVI.Intelligence Work................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................379
* XXVII.The Appeal to the Public................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................398
* XXVIII.The Appeal to Reason................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................411
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1929.
The longest-living author of this work died in 1974, so this work is in the public domain in countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 49 years or less. This work may be in the public domain in countries and areas with longer native copyright terms that apply the rule of the shorter term to foreign works.
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