MATTERS OF OPINION: TALKING ABOUT PUBLIC ISSUES

"Matters of Opinion offers an insight into 'public opinion' as reported in the media, asking where these opinions actually come from, and how they have their effects. Drawing on the analysis of conversations from focus groups, phone-ins, and broadcast interviews with members of the public, Greg Myers argues that we must go back to these encounters, asking questions such as what members of the public thought they were being asked, whom they were talking as, and whom they were talking to. He suggests that people don't carry a store of opinions, ready to tell strangers; they use opinions in order to get along with other people, and how they say things is as important as what they say. This book illuminates current debates on research methods, the public sphere, and deliberative democracy, on broadcast talk, and on what it means to participate in public life."--Jacket.