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trying to remember the name of a social science thing

knitdanknitdan In ur baseKillin ur guysRegistered User regular
in Help / Advice Forum
Some years back I heard or read something about how the whole idea of having public comments on government action is not to gauge the public's opinion, but to neutralize opposition by making them think they've been heard. It was part of a whole strategy that involved small groups making the actual decisions beforehand, but still holding comment sessions anyway.

I'm sorry it's not much to go on, but I figured we might have some social science and or public policy folks around.

Does anyone know what I'm talking about? Does it ring a bell at all?

“I was quick when I came in here, I’m twice as quick now”
-Indiana Solo, runner of blades

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    ceresceres When the last moon is cast over the last star of morning And the future has past without even a last desperate warningRegistered User, Moderator mod
    I don't have a lot of time to go through it, but I skimmed it and it looks like there's a lot of info in here that runs along the lines of what you want:

    http://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences-and-law/political-science-and-government/political-science-terms-and-concepts-112

    And it seems like all is dying, and would leave the world to mourn
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    JebusUDJebusUD Adventure! Candy IslandRegistered User regular
    Perhaps "The Manufacture of Consent" is what you are thinking of?

    and I wonder about my neighbors even though I don't have them
    but they're listening to every word I say
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    knitdanknitdan In ur base Killin ur guysRegistered User regular
    I think that's on the right track, but in the Walter Lippmann sense rather than the Noam Chomsky one.

    I found this on his wiki page, which looks really familiar: (I bolded the most relevant bit)

    Almond–Lippmann consensus
    Similarities between the views of Lippmann and Gabriel Almond produced what became known as the Almond–Lippmann consensus, which is based on three assumptions:

    1.Public opinion is volatile, shifting erratically in response to the most recent developments. Mass beliefs early in the 20th century were "too pacifist in peace and too bellicose in war, too neutralist or appeasing in negotiations or too intransigent"
    2.Public opinion is incoherent, lacking an organized or a consistent structure to such an extent that the views of US citizens could best be described as "nonattitudes"
    3.Public opinion is irrelevant to the policymaking process. Political leaders ignore public opinion because most Americans can neither "understand nor influence the very events upon which their lives and happiness are known to depend."

    Thanks, I think this can probably be closed.

    “I was quick when I came in here, I’m twice as quick now”
    -Indiana Solo, runner of blades
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