The Voice of the People: Public Opinion and Democracy [Paperback]

Professor James S. Fishkin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 25, 1997 | ISBN-10: 0300072554 | ISBN-13: 978-0300072556

Ours is an era of stunted public discourse, this text argues, where instant polls, 900 numbers, orchestrated petitions and talk-show campaigning appear to have overwhelmed participatory democracy. What has become of the freely reasoned public debate and informed "consent of the governed" that, as cherished principle, we hold will produce better leaders and better public decisions? Where or what is the voice of the people today? In this work, James Fishkin evaluates modern democratic practices and explains how the voice of the people has struggled to make itself heard in the past. He tells a story of changing concepts and practices of democracy, with examples that range from ancient Sparta to America's founders to the first Gallup polls to Ross Perot. He then develops the rationale for a new method the "deliberative opinion poll" that uses modern media and survey research to legitimately rediscover the people's voice. Fishkin's proposal for televised deliberative opinion polls has already been realized twice by the British television network Channel 4, and he discusses its implementation in the book. In January 1996, his deliberative poll will be seen in action in a "National Issues Convention" to be broadcast by PBS on the eve of the American presidential primary season. During this broadcast, a national random sample of citizens will interact with presidential contenders in order to reflect and vote on the issues and candidates. Fishkin discusses the pros and cons of this event, giving behind-the-scene details about preparations for it.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Despite being inundated with polls at election time, people increasingly suspect that their voice is being ignored, manipulated and twisted by politicians and lobbyists. James Fishkin, professor of government at the University of Texas, is seeking to restore the public's waning faith in democratic discourse. His solution, which he terms "deliberative democracy," and which he has been test-running in several successful experiments both in Britain and in the U.S., is to physically assemble a large representative sample and to poll the participants only after one or two days of intensive discussion and education on an issue. Fishkin's ideas have sparked interest not only in the political field, but also in other areas where public consultation is necessary, such as making decisions about large-scale utility projects. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Fishkin (government, Univ. of Texas) explores the ways in which the people have made their opinions known in democratic systems from ancient Athens to America. In his search for "the voice of the people," the author concludes that in contemporary American democracy, the public's opinion, while highly valued by government officials, is poorly informed and poorly measured. On the latter point, the author properly recognizes how opinion surveys force people to judge issues on which they may have no opinion or have given little thought. His solution is "the deliberative opinion poll," which uses media and survey research to restore the people's voice. Fishkin has successfully employed his poll twice in England and will conduct another here during the coming presidential primary season. For the citizen seriously interested in the future of American democracy, this book is highly recommended.
Thomas J. Baldino, Wilkes Univ., Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (August 25, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300072554
• ISBN-13: 978-0300072556
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,280,133 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

James Fishkin holds the Janet M. Peck Chair in International Communication at Stanford University where he teaches Communication and Political Science and Directs the Center for Deliberative Democracy. He is author of a number of books including Democracy and Deliberation (1991), The Dialogue of Justice (1992 ), The Voice of the People: Public Opinion and Democracy (1995), Deliberation Day (with Bruce Ackerman, 2004). His Deliberative Polling process has been conducted in countries ranging from China and Bulgaria to Denmark, Britain, Australia, Italy, Hungary, and the US. He has been a Guggenheim Fellow, a Fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford and the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington. He has also been Visiting Fellow Commoner at Trinity College, Cambridge. He holds both a PhD in Political Science from Yale and a PhD in Philosophy from Cambridge.