Ezra's Bookshelf

The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion

by John R. Zaller · 388 pages · ~7 hrs

Politics & GovernmentPsychology & Mind

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John Zaller develops an influential model of how ordinary citizens form political opinions. He argues that people are not primarily driven by fixed attitudes or values but rather respond to the elite discourse they encounter through media and political leaders. The intensity of elite messages, their consistency, and people's attention to politics determine what considerations are available when they are asked for their opinion. Zaller's 'Receive-Accept-Sample' model explains why public opinion can shift dramatically in response to elite cues and why people often give different answers to essentially the same question asked different ways. The book is technical, written for scholars in political science and political psychology, but its implications are profound for understanding public opinion, media effects, and democratic responsiveness. Zaller's framework has influenced decades of research on public opinion and remains central to debates about what the public knows and how political information is processed.

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