Robert
Huckfeldt, PhD, Department of Political Science
University of California, Davis
Unanimity, Discord, and the Communication of Public
Opinion
January 12, 2007 |
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| Abstract - This paper is concerned with the political
communication of opinion that occurs through networks of associated
citizens. Its primary attention focuses on opinion variance
within populations and networks, and how such variance affects
communication among and between individuals. Particularly in
the context of ambiguous or infrequent communication, people
may experience difficulty in forming judgments regarding the
opinions of others. In such situations, environmental priors
become useful devices for reaching these judgments, but a problem
arises related to the utility of these environmental priors
when discord rather than unanimity characterizes the contextual
distribution of opinion. The paper’s argument is that
dyadic discussions between two citizens are most enlightening,
and environmental priors least enlightening, when surrounding
opinion is marked by higher levels of disagreement. The analyses
are based on data taken from the 1996 Indianapolis-St. Louis
study. |
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