Public Opinion

From open-encyclopedia.com - the free encyclopedia.

Public Opinion is a classic book on media and democracy by Walter Lippmann. Among other things, it argues that "the manufacture of consent" amounts to "a revolution" in "the practice of democracy" because it allows the elites to essentially control the mind of the public. This, he argues, is useful and necessary because "the common interests" -- the general concerns of all people -- "elude" the public and so must be the domain of what he called a "specialized class."

The full etext of the book is available here.