How Sociology Lost Public Opinion

Abstract

In contemporary sociology the once prominent study of public opinion has virtually disappeared. None of the leading theoretical models in the closest disciplinary subfield (political sociology) currently provide ample or sufficiently clear space for consideration of public opinion as a possible factor in shaping or interacting with key policy or political outcomes in democratic polities. In this article, we unearth and document the sources of this curious development and raise questions about its implications for how political sociologists have come to understand policy making, state formation, and political conflict. We begin by reconstructing the dismissal of public opinion in the intellectual reorientation of political sociology from the late 1970s onward. We argue that the most influential scholarly works of this period (including those of Tilly, Skocpol, Mann, Esping-Andersen, and Domhoff) face an underlying paradox: While often rejecting public opinion, their theoretical logics ultimately presuppose its operation. These now classical writings did not move toward research programs seeking engagement with the operation and formation of public opinion, even though our immanent critique suggests they in fact require precisely this turn. We address the challenge of reconceptualizing how public opinion might be productively integrated into the sociological study of politics by demonstrating that the major arguments in the subfield can be fruitfully extended by grappling with public opinion. We conclude by considering several recent, interdisciplinary examples of scholarship that, we argue, point the way toward a fruitful revitalization.

Strong Welfare States Do Not Intensify Public Support for Income Redistribution, but Even Reduce It among the Prosperous: A Multilevel Analysis of Public Opinion in 30 Countries

“…Moreover, the welfare state not only provides social insurance and redistribution, but also acts as a labor market arbiter shaping the distribution of wages. That makes it doubly relevant for the working masses [2][3][4]. This paper focuses on "preferences in context" [5,6], specifically about how individuals' attitudes towards redistribution are shaped by their own characteristics and by the characteristics of their country's welfare system.…”

What Drives Progressive Policy? Institutional Politics, Political Mediation, Policy Feedbacks, and Early U.S. Old‐Age Policy

“…A second institutional politics model, not considered by Amenta et al (2005), relies not on electoral results or bureaucracies but on the influence of public opinion (reviews in Burstein 2003; Manza and Cook 2002). Although public opinion has not always been viewed as an institutional influence (Manza and Brooks 2012), scholars often view democratic theory as indicating that politicians will make policy in accordance with public opinion, especially if the issue is a salient one (Burstein 2003). When public opinion is slanted and the issue is salient, politicians are expected to abandon previous policy positions if they differ from those of the general public, to avoid losing reelection.…”

Public Support for Policies: Public Opinion and Policy Making

“…The empirical evidence in support of these assumptions and models seems to be quite broad, but not yet fairly conclusive [Page 1994;Burstein 2003Burstein , 2010Olmastroni 2010;Shapiro 2011;Wlezien 2016;Beyer, Hänni 2018]. A highly-cited early work by Page and Shapiro [1983] can be regarded as a tipping point in the ascent of policy and democratic responsiveness studies in a variety of fields, including the broad area of welfare policies [e.g., Mehrtens 2004;Christian 2008;Manza, Brooks 2012] or governmental action in general, different policy domains in particular [Stimson, MacKuen, Erikson 1994; Soroka, Wlezien 2010b; Hakhverdian 2012; Vandeweerdt, Kerremans, Cohn 2016], as well as (scarcely so far) in environmental policy [Johnson 2005;Agnone 2007;Weaver 2008].…”

“…In general, public opinion research in political science lacks wider theoretical and conceptual debate [Burstein 2006;Druckman 2014]. Public policy theories rarely consider public opinion explicitly [Beyer, Hänni 2018] and political sociology omits public opinion almost entirely from its considerations [Manza, Brooks 2012]. At the same time, however, research of public policy support or acceptability of policies is proliferating, as well as studies into policy responsiveness to and congruence with public opinion.…”