Complicating the ideal of an informed citizenry
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Although theorists agree that having an informed citizenry is necessary for a well-functioning democracy, most individual citizens fall well short of the ideal of being an informed citizen. Scholars and advocates expend special effort to understand how to make citizens more informed and to create programs that promote this goal. Many of these efforts revolve around providing more high quality information to citizens and assume, either directly or indirectly, that these efforts will have positive benefits like educating voters, increasing turnout and reducing bias. Results from three experiments indicate that (1) providing higher quality information than that typically found on a ballot does not increase turnout; (2) providing individuating information does not reduce explicit sexism (but reduces implicit pro-male bias under certain circumstances); and (3) suggestive evidence that deliberative polling causes citizens to report their opinions more accurately. In conclusion, an explanation is offered for these surprising findings and the implications of these findings for researchers and practitioners are considered.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Publication date | 2010 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Weiksner, George Michael |
|---|---|
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Communication |
| Primary advisor | Fishkin, James S |
| Thesis advisor | Fishkin, James S |
| Thesis advisor | Iyengar, Shanto |
| Thesis advisor | Krosnick, Jon A |
| Thesis advisor | Luskin, Robert C |
| Thesis advisor | Rivers, Douglas, 1956- |
| Advisor | Iyengar, Shanto |
| Advisor | Krosnick, Jon A |
| Advisor | Luskin, Robert C |
| Advisor | Rivers, Douglas, 1956- |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | G. Michael Weiksner. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Communication. |
| Thesis | Thesis (Ph. D.)--Stanford University, 2010. |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2010 by George Michael Weiksner
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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