Formations of Public Opinion
Meaning of the word Public:
It becomes necessary for us to know what is the definite meaning of the word Jan. To clarify this concept, we establish its relation to crowd with another noun. We use the word crowd when we talk about many people who gather in one place.
We use the word public to refer to the general body of people who belong to a particular community, whether that community is a small group or a large group or a national group or a whole world group. What we call world public opinion shows the tendency of the people of the whole world to believe. Therefore, there is no sense of proximity in the word Jan, but it is definitely a psychological group. There was no direct contact with him. People are scattered by location. But these people have a tendency to respond to a single stimulus. It also means that it also includes means of communication system so that different people of a village, country or whole world can get information about a particular matter and can respond like other people.
As we shall see later, the group gets polarized in a crowd, audience or conference and it comes under the influence of a particular person on a particular occasion. On the other hand, the word public refers to the people who appear in their homes, clubs or markets and respond to a specific matter. They maintain contact with each other either through communication system at personal level or through newspaper or All India Radio.
There is a feeling among all these people that if they agree with any opinion, then they disagree with another opinion. Therefore, there is a sense of agreement, belonging and liking in them, even if the individuals are not familiar with each other and live at different places and at different distances. In order to create a sense of intimacy, individuals or newspapers will report about politicians who are the subject of controversy. This creates a sense of identification with other people and thus the group spirit or ‘we-they’ feeling. If a group, party, union, committee or any such institutional group becomes formed, then there is a greater impact on the public. Therefore ‘people’ are more or less a systematic committee of people who share a common opinion on a general matter. As a result, that matter is such that relates to the whole community and it is a problem that affects most if not all the members of the community.
meaning of the word vote
There is a belief inherent in the word vote. There are many types of beliefs. Some are accepted without persuasion, because they contain the authenticity of the source which gives us confidence. Some beliefs are based on evidence. That is knowledge. We are not discussing any of these beliefs here. We are concerned here with the beliefs which are about some controversial subject on which people have different types of beliefs. Therefore, opinions are those beliefs which are about a controversial subject. We can also clarify the difference between sentiment and opinion.
Emotions are emotional tendencies that are related to objects or situations that are not the subject of controversy. Therefore, sentiments differ from opinions in that they are emotional tendencies and their circumstances are beyond dispute, whereas opinions have implicit beliefs related to controversial subjects. We can also clarify the difference between opinion and attitude. Whereas attitude is a tendency to act, opinion is a special kind of verbal and symbolic form. Public opinion helps us in determining the attitude of a large group towards certain matters. A person’s view of a public matter may be favorable or unfavourable. This is a situation where there is a similarity between opinion and attitude. Thus, opinion is a verbal response that indicates a person’s attitude towards a controversial subject.
Motivation in Public Opinion Formation
Motivation plays a big role in the formation of public opinion. New proposals made by some individuals or groups will affect the individuals favorably or unfavorably. Generally the need for the formation of a new opinion occurs when a person is frustrated because his habitual conditions for responding are not conducive to the situation. Thus the individual feels that the new approach will enable the group to face the situation and solve the problem more satisfactorily. Take, for example, the problem of land reform in India and its related plebiscite, especially during 1955-59. Because there are lakhs of landless laborers in India , the Communist Party tried to mobilize a large number of people in its favor in some districts of Andhra Pradesh ; He helped the landless laborers to form the view that the land actually belonged to the cultivator and not to the owner.
A large number of landless laborers accepted this and acted accordingly as the idea matched their needs. They began to feel that the owner of the land is taking advantage without doing any work while he is living in poverty and misery even after doing all the work. Thus strong motivators are involved in the formation of public opinion.
If such motivators are not in action, no opinion will ever be formed on the problem concerned. We can also say that which side individuals will take and which will not, it depends on their motives. A man who has a lot of land and property will oppose a party that wants to improve the land. But the landless laborers and other landless people will be in favor of land reforms. Therefore, the formation of public opinion depends not only on economic ideals and social justice, but also on individual circumstances, that is, whether we are landowners or not. Take another example, when wealth-tax, property-duty and other such taxes were imposed, practically the whole country favored them because only a small number of wealthy class people were affected by this tax system. Were . Therefore, public opinion is dependent on those motivators who have an influence on the majority of the people.
Foundations of Public opinion
The first step in the process of opinion formation is to define the subject. Few people or some group take up a problem to solve. These guys will fix the problem. We can take the example of the problem of prohibition,
In the 1920s and 1930s, Mahatma Gandhi and many Congress leaders considered the problem of alcoholic beverages to be a problem to be solved immediately and Mahatma Gandhi in particular termed the revenue from such excise duty as corrupt. In this way the person or group of persons who are interested in a particular social problem, they will explain the meaning of the topic and talk about it to attract the attention of the public. Therefore the first stage can be called the stage of primary definition.
_ The next stage will be that of exploration. Many people will start thinking about this problem individually or in groups. They will try to understand to what extent this problem has taken a serious form. They can discuss whether the time has come to take some action on the problem. Doubts may also arise about the solution of the problem.
Therefore, at this stage, efforts will be made to study the subject thoroughly, fact-finding and possible solutions will be tried. This issue can be discussed in some meetings. The proceedings of these meetings may be given in the newspapers. Newspapers can publish editorial opinion on these subjects.
This stage leads to the third stage of opinion formation. While the problem is being discussed and the facts are being gathered, some alternative solutions may be found. As a result, different groups will start taking interest in this problem on their own. Some will take the side of the original group having the problem, while others will say that this is not a satisfactory solution to the problem. This will be a state of difference of opinion. Emotions may be stirred, mob-like behaviour, slogans may be raised in favor or against a particular type of solution to the problem. The opposing parties will also study the problem and gather facts that would be against the solution. For example, in 1955 and 1956, the Ministry of Health of the Government of India introduced B. C . Yes . The campaign about the vaccine was intensified and a large number of vaccines were administered. The Health Minister of Madras took great interest in the matter but Mr. C. Rajagopalachari opposed this. Some people from the health departments of Madras State and outside supported Rajaji’s view. Facts and views were quoted from both the sides. The important feature of this first stage of conflict is that individuals have both rational and emotional
Thoughts also pervade. Through all these discussions, speeches, discussions and publicity, most of the people will make their decision in favor of any one situation. In this way there will be consensus. But this does not mean that all people will hold the same opinion. It is possible that the matter may be voted on in or outside the Legislative Assembly. As far as public opinion is to be taken, there can never be complete agreement on any matter. Only conditions can change. The opinion which the minority is following may one day become the opinion of the majority class and the opinion of the majority may one day be abandoned and it may become the opinion of the minority class. Take another example, in 1958, in some Asian countries, there was an increase in the opinion of minorities in favor of authoritarianism and the establishment of totalitarian regimes because public opinion was in favor of transferring power from civilian officials to military people.
Motivation in Public Opinion Formation
Motivation plays a big role in the formation of public opinion. New proposals made by some individuals or groups will affect the individuals favorably or unfavorably. Generally the need for the formation of a new opinion occurs when a person is frustrated because his habitual conditions for responding are not conducive to the situation. Thus the individual feels that the new approach will enable the group to face the situation and solve the problem more satisfactorily. Take, for example, the problem of land reform in India and its related plebiscite, especially during 1955-59. Because there are lakhs of landless laborers in India , the Communist Party tried to mobilize a large number of people in its favor in some districts of Andhra Pradesh ; He helped the landless laborers to form the view that the land actually belonged to the cultivator and not to the owner.
A large number of landless laborers accepted this and acted accordingly as the idea matched their needs. They began to feel that the owner of the land is taking advantage without doing any work while he is living in poverty and misery even after doing all the work. Thus strong motivators are involved in the formation of public opinion. If such motivators are not in action, no opinion will ever be formed on the problem concerned. We can also say that which side individuals will take and which will not, it depends on their motives. A man who has a lot of land and property will oppose a party that wants to improve the land. But landless workers and other landless people.