Private truths, public lies
Subtitle: the social consequences of preference falsification
By: Timur Kuran.
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Published: 1995
Place of publication: Cambridge, Mass
Language: eng
Number of pages: 423
Subjects: Social influence; Truthfulness and falsehood; Knowledge, Theory of; Public opinion
Description: Preference falsification, according to the economist Timur Kuran, is the act of misrepresenting one's wants under perceived social pressures. It happens frequently in everyday life, as when we tell the host of a dinner party that we are enjoying the food when we actually find it bland. In Private Truths, Public Lies Kuran argues convincingly that the phenomenon not only is ubiquitous but has huge social and political consequences.

Drawing on diverse intellectual traditions, including ones rooted in economics, psychology, sociology, and political science, Kuran provides a unified theory of how preference falsification shapes collective decisions, orients structural change, sustains social stability, distorts human knowledge, and conceals political possibilities.

Private Truths, Public Lies uses its theoretical argument to illuminate an array of puzzling social phenomena. They include the unexpected fall of communism, the paucity, until recently, of open opposition to affirmative action in the United States, and the durability of the beliefs that have sustained India's caste system.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 351-408) and index.