Title: Numbered Voices
First published: 1993
Description: Publisher description: Quantifying the American mood through opinion polls appears to be an unbiased means for finding out what people want. But in Numbered Voices, Susan Herbst demonstrates that the way public opinion is measured affects the use that voters, legislators, and journalists make of it. Exploring the history of public opinion in the United States from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day, Herbst shows how numbers served both instrumental and symbolic functions, not only conveying neutral information but creating a basis authority. Addressing how the quantification of public opinion has affected contemporary politics and the democratic process, Herbst asks difficult but fundamental questions about the workings of American politics.
Subjects: History, Political participation, Public opinion, Public opinion polls, United states, politics and government, Public opinion, united states
Places: United states, United States
LC classification: HN90.P8 H47 1993