Effects on Public Perceptions of the Legitimacy of the Opposition

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diana C. Mutz
Keyword(s):  
Political Discourse ◽  
Public Perceptions ◽  
Democratic Process ◽  
Public Controversy ◽  
The Public ◽  
Political Opinion

This chapter uses additional experiments to investigate viewers' perceptions of the legitimacy of the candidates and issue positions they like least. Conflict is central to the democratic process, and it is altogether appropriate that media highlight differences of political opinion. The legitimacy of democratic outcomes requires that political options be contested, and the in-your-face style could be just another way to present conflicting ideas to the public. Televised political discourse plays an important role in familiarizing viewers with issue arguments related to matters of public controversy. If television did so for rationales for oppositional political perspectives in particular, then it could be extremely valuable in discouraging polarization and encouraging perceptions of a legitimate opposition.

Advertisements and the Public Discourse in a Democracy

2011 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoav Hammer
Keyword(s):  
Political Discourse ◽  
Public Discourse ◽  
Campaign Finance ◽  
Freedom Of Speech ◽  
Political Support ◽  
The Political ◽  
Democratic Process ◽  
The Public ◽  
Points Of View ◽  
The Law

Modern advertisements contain little information and expose few arguments. They rarely describe the product and its usage or compare it to similar products. Yet, advertisements convey many messages—they attach meaning to products, suggest values, and spread a particular view of life. Advertisements create a failure in the democratic process; through advertising, commercial corporations intervene in the democratic discourse. Citizens are intensively exposed to the consumerist worldview while alternative points of view are scarcely presented in the communicative sphere.But commercial corporations are not legitimate participants in the public discourse in a democracy since they do not represent the political support of citizens. Presently, courts grant advertisements freedom of speech protection based on the importance of providing information for viewers. But by doing this, courts ignore the value suggesting messages prevalent in modern advertisements.For many years the law in the domain of campaign finance has restricted the speech of corporations in order to prevent distortion of the political discourse prior to elections. Similarly, we should allow the State to intervene to repair the failure in the public discourse created by advertisements. The law regarding informative messages and value-suggesting messages contained in advertisements should treat each separately, and advertisers should not be permitted to convey messages of the latter.

Living machines in our cultural imagination

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Szollosy
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Science Fiction ◽  
Public Perceptions ◽  
Human Condition ◽  
Cultural Imagination ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Enlightenment ◽  
The Future ◽  
Public Imagination ◽  
The Human Condition

Public perceptions of robots and artificial intelligence (AI)—both positive and negative—are hopelessly misinformed, based far too much on science fiction rather than science fact. However, these fictions can be instructive, and reveal to us important anxieties that exist in the public imagination, both towards robots and AI and about the human condition more generally. These anxieties are based on little-understood processes (such as anthropomorphization and projection), but cannot be dismissed merely as inaccuracies in need of correction. Our demonization of robots and AI illustrate two-hundred-year-old fears about the consequences of the Enlightenment and industrialization. Idealistic hopes projected onto robots and AI, in contrast, reveal other anxieties, about our mortality—and the transhumanist desire to transcend the limitations of our physical bodies—and about the future of our species. This chapter reviews these issues and considers some of their broader implications for our future lives with living machines.

scholarly journals Examining Australian public perceptions and behaviors towards a future COVID-19 vaccine

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Holly Seale ◽  
Anita E. Heywood ◽  
Julie Leask ◽  
Meru Sheel ◽  
David N. Durrheim ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Online Survey ◽  
Private Health Insurance ◽  
Public Perceptions ◽  
Multivariable Logistic Regression Model ◽  
Careful Planning ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
The Public ◽  
Individual Perceptions ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Early Indication

Abstract Background As immunisation program launches have previously demonstrated, it is essential that careful planning occurs now to ensure the readiness of the public for a COVID-19 vaccine. As part of that process, this study aimed to understand the public perceptions regarding a future COVID-19 vaccine in Australia. Methods A national cross-sectional online survey of 1420 Australian adults (18 years and older) was undertaken between 18 and 24 March 2020. The statistical analysis of the data included univariate and multivariable logistic regression model analysis. Results Respondents generally held positive views towards vaccination. Eighty percent (n = 1143) agreed with the statement that getting myself vaccinated for COVID-19 would be a good way to protect myself against infection. Females (n = 614, 83%) were more likely to agree with the statement than males (n = 529, 78%) (aOR = 1.4 (95% CI: 1.1–1.8); P = 0.03), while 91% of those aged 70 years and above agreed compared to 76% of 18–29-year-olds (aOR = 2.3 (95% CI:1.2–4.1); P = 0.008). Agreement was also higher for those with a self-reported chronic disease (aOR = 1.4 (95% CI: 1.1–2.0); P = 0.04) and among those who held private health insurance (aOR = 1.7 (95% CI: 1.3–2.3); P < 0.001). Beyond individual perceptions, 78% stated that their decision to vaccinate would be supported by family and friends. Conclusion This study presents an early indication of public perceptions towards a future COVID-19 vaccine and represents a starting point for mapping vaccine perceptions. To support an effective launch of these new vaccines, governments need to use this time to understand the communities concerns and to identify the strategies that will support engagement.

Public perceptions of who counts as a scientist for controversial science

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (7) ◽  
pp. 797-811 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brianne Suldovsky ◽  
Asheley Landrum ◽  
Natalie Jomini Stroud
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Political Ideology ◽  
Genetically Modified Organisms ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public Perceptions ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Us ◽  
Science Media

In an era where expertise is increasingly critiqued, this study draws from the research on expertise and scientist stereotyping to explore who the public considers to be a scientist in the context of media coverage about climate change and genetically modified organisms. Using survey data from the United States, we find that political ideology and science knowledge affect who the US public believes is a scientist in these domains. Our results suggest important differences in the role of science media attention and science media selection in the publics “scientist” labeling. In addition, we replicate previous work and find that compared to other people who work in science, those with PhDs in Biology and Chemistry are most commonly seen as scientists.

WHY DIVIDE MIGRANTS BY THEIR TYPES?: CONTACTS AND PERCEPTIONS OF MIGRANTS IN JAPAN

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Yujin Woo
Keyword(s):  
Japanese Society ◽  
Public Perceptions ◽  
Japanese People ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Labor Migrants ◽  
Current Form ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Sentiment ◽  
Positive Feelings ◽  
Original Survey

Abstract This article compares the public perceptions of various types of migrants in Japan and examines whether Japanese view them equally. Using an original survey, which presented six types of migrants that Japanese people most commonly face in their daily lives, I show several interesting results. First, respondents express the most negative views toward labor migrants. Second, respondents who have migrant friends tend to have more positive feelings for all types of migrants. In contrast, simple coexistence with migrants fails to enhance public sentiment toward labor migrants, particularly those whose stay is temporary. Overall, my statistical results suggest that Japanese people are not pessimistic about every kind of migrant, and their openness increases as migrants acculturate into Japanese society and interact with Japanese people. These findings provide evidence to influence policy discussions on whether Japan should recruit labor migrants in its current form in order to fight its aging population.

The Irish catholic clergy and emigration during the great famine

1947 ◽  
Vol 5 (20) ◽  
pp. 287-302 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oliver MacDonagh
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Public Controversy ◽  
The Public ◽  
Catholic Clergy ◽  
Great Famine ◽  
Single Voice ◽  
The Catholic Church

The catholic church in Ireland never, as a church, defined for itself an attitude towards emigration. Priests and bishops, when they spoke of emigration, usually spoke as individuals, not as members of their order. The relatively small number who have left any opinions on record were not necessarily the most influential. We cannot be certain that their views represented the feelings of the clergy as a whole. The day to day conversations and advice of ordinary priests, of which we can know little, mere far more influential in this matter than the pastorals or public letters which survive. In the place of a single voice speaking with authority or the steady murmur of unanimity, we can hear only the heterogeneous confusion of a score of voices, some perhaps seriously distorted by the public controversy in which they were raised.

Reality Asserts Itself: Public Opinion on Iraq and the Elasticity of Reality

2010 ◽  
Vol 64 (3) ◽  
pp. 443-479 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew A. Baum ◽  
Tim Groeling
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Public Support ◽  
News Coverage ◽  
Public Perceptions ◽  
The Public ◽  
Sustained Change ◽  
Disaggregated Data ◽  
Original Survey ◽  
Over Time

AbstractPrevailing theories hold that U.S. public support for a war depends primarily on its degree of success, U.S. casualties, or conflict goals. Yet, research into the framing of foreign policy shows that public perceptions concerning each of these factors are often endogenous and malleable by elites. In this article, we argue that both elite rhetoric and the situation on the ground in the conflict affect public opinion, but the qualities that make such information persuasive vary over time and with circumstances. Early in a conflict, elites (especially the president) have an informational advantage that renders public perceptions of “reality” very elastic. As events unfold and as the public gathers more information, this elasticity recedes, allowing alternative frames to challenge the administration's preferred frame. We predict that over time the marginal impact of elite rhetoric and reality will decrease, although a sustained change in events may eventually restore their influence. We test our argument through a content analysis of news coverage of the Iraq war from 2003 through 2007, an original survey of public attitudes regarding Iraq, and partially disaggregated data from more than 200 surveys of public opinion on the war.

The Surgical Elimination of Violence? Conflicting Attitudes towards Technology and Science during the Psychosurgery Controversy of the 1970s

2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian P. Casey
Keyword(s):  
Civil Rights ◽  
Violent Behavior ◽  
Power Struggle ◽  
Public Controversy ◽  
The Public ◽  
Community Activists ◽  
Attitudes Towards Technology ◽  
Brain Operations ◽  
The One ◽  
Psychiatric Establishment

ArgumentIn the 1970s a public controversy erupted over the proposed use of brain operations to curtail violent behavior. Civil libertarians, civil rights and community activists, leaders of the anti-psychiatry movement, and some U.S. Congressmen charged psychosurgeons and the National Institute of Mental Health, with furthering a political project: the suppression of dissent. Several government-sponsored investigations into psychosurgery rebutted this charge and led to an official qualified endorsement of the practice while calling attention to the need for more “scientific” understanding and better ethical safeguards. This paper argues that the psychosurgery debate of the 1970s was more than a power struggle between members of the public and the psychiatric establishment. The debate represented a clash between a postmodern skepticism about science and renewed focus on ultimate ends, on the one hand, and a modern faith in standards and procedures, a preoccupation with means, on the other. These diverging commitments made the dispute ultimately irresolvable.

scholarly journals Media frames and public perceptions of global poverty in the UK: Is there a link?

2019 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mirjam Vossen ◽  
Lau Schulpen
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Public Perceptions ◽  
Global Poverty ◽  
Media Frames ◽  
The Public ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract This study investigates the relationship between media frames and public perceptions of global poverty. Building on a frame analysis, the paper reconstructs prevailing poverty narratives in British news articles and non-governmental organizations’ (NGO’s) advertisements between 2011 and 2013. Following this, these narratives are compared with the narratives that emerge from public opinion studies. The findings suggest that there is a strong connection between media frames and public knowledge and perceptions of global poverty. Both the media and the public define poverty in developing countries’ terms of destitute victims, lack of development and bad governance. Both suggest that the causes of poverty are internal to developing countries and imply that there has been little progress in reducing global poverty.

scholarly journals What the Public Think about Social Services: A Report from Scotland

2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 1146-1166
Author(s):  
Trish McCulloch ◽  
Stephen Webb
Keyword(s):  
Social Services ◽  
Public Perception ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Public Perceptions ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Service Workers ◽  
The Public ◽  
Welfare Institutions ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
Two Stages

Abstract This article reports on findings of a government-funded research project which set out to understand what the public think about social services in Scotland. The authors were particularly keen to examine issues of legitimacy, trust and licence to operate for social services as they are framed in public perceptions. Drawing on a national online survey of 2,505 nationally representative adults, the findings provide the first and largest empirical data set on public perceptions of social services in Scotland. Data analysis occurred in two stages and employed descriptive statistical measurement and cross-tabulation analysis. The findings indicate that, overall, people in Scotland are positive about social services and the value of their impact on society. Furthermore, they believe that social services perform a valuable public role. These findings are significant for debates surrounding social services and suggest that the Scottish public has a more positive view of social services than social service workers and welfare institutions typically perceive. The findings demonstrate the need to develop a more theoretically rich understanding of the relationships between public perception, legitimacy and social licence in social services, including attention to co-productive models of engagement.

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