Public opinion, or popular opinion, is the collective opinion on a specific topic or voting intention relevant to society. It is the people's views on matters affecting them.
In the 21st century, public opinion is heavily influenced by the media; many studies have been undertaken which look at the different factors which influence public opinion. Politicians and other people concerned with public opinion often attempt to influence it using advertising or rhetoric. Opinion plays a vital role in making some critical decisions. Sentiment analysis or opinion mining is a method used to mine the thoughts or feelings of the general population.Zeng et al (2023) Public Opinion Mining on Construction Health and Safety: Latent Dirichlet Allocation Approach. Buildings 2023, 13, 927..https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13040927 One of the struggles of public opinion is how it can be influenced by misinformation.
Etymology The term "public opinion" was derived from the French , which was first used in 1588 by Michel de Montaigne, one of the most significant philosophers of the French Renaissance, in the second edition of his famous Essays (ch. XXII).Kurt Braatz, Friedrich Nietzsche: Eine Studie zur Theorie der Öffentlichen Meinung, Walter de Gruyter, 2011, p. 1.
The French term also appears in the 1761 work Julie, or the New Heloise by Jean-Jacques Rousseau.The term appears in the chapter: "Lettre XXIV à Julie" of the book.
Precursors of the phrase in English include William Temple's "general opinion" (appearing in his 1672 work On the Original and Nature of Government) and John Locke's "law of opinion" (appearing in his 1689 work An Essay Concerning Human Understanding).
History The emergence of public opinion as a significant force in the political realm dates to the late 17th century, but opinion had been regarded as having singular importance much earlier. Medieval fama publica or vox et fama communis had great legal and social importance from the 12th and 13th centuries onward.See Julien Théry, "Fama : l'opinion publique comme preuve judiciaire. Aperçu sur la révolution médiévale de l'inquisitoire (XIIe-XIVe s.)", in B. Lemesle (ed.), La preuve en justice de l'Antiquité à nos jours, Rennes, PUR, 2003, pp. 119–147, available online, and Daniel Smail, Thelma Fernster,(ed), Fama. The Politics of Talk and Reputation, Ithaca, Cornell University Press, 2003. Later, William Shakespeare called public opinion the "mistress of success" and Blaise Pascal thought it was "the queen of the world".
In his treatise, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding c, John Locke considered that man was subject to three laws: the divine law, the civil law and most importantly in Locke's judgement, the law of opinion or reputation. He regarded the latter as of the highest importance because dislike and ill opinion force people to conform in their behaviour to social norms; however he did not consider public opinion as a suitable influence for governments.
In his 1672 essay On the Original and Nature of Government, William Temple gave an early formulation of the importance of public opinion. He observed that "when vast numbers of men submit their lives and fortunes absolutely to the will of one, it must be force of custom, or opinion which subjects power to authority". Temple disagreed with the prevalent opinion that the basis of government lay in a social contract and thought that government was merely allowed to exist due to the favour of public opinion.
The prerequisites for the emergence of a public sphere were increasing levels of literacy which was spurred on by the Reformation, which encouraged individuals to read the Bible in the vernacular, and the rapidly expanding printing presses. During the 18th century, religious literature was replaced by secular literature, novels and pamphlets. In parallel to this was the growth in reading societies and clubs. At the turn of the century the first circulating library opened in London and the public library became widespread and available to the public.
Public opinion in British politics Coffee-houses
An institution of central importance in the development of public opinion was the coffee-house, which became widespread throughout Europe in the mid-17th century.Steve Pincus, " 'Coffee Politicians Does Create': Coffeehouses and Restoration Political Culture." Journal of Modern History 67.4 (1995): 807-834. Although Charles II later tried to suppress the London coffeehouses as "places where the disaffected met, and spread scandalous reports concerning the conduct of His Majesty and his Ministers", the public flocked to them. For several decades following the Restoration, the Wits gathered round John Dryden at Will's Coffee House in Russell Street, Covent Garden.An historical and chronological deduction of the origin of commerce, from the earliest accounts. : Containing an history of the great commercial interests of the British Empire. To which is prefixed an introduction, of a exhibiting a view of the ancient and modern state of Europe; of the importance of our colonies; and of the commerce, shipping, old manufactures, fisheries, &c., of Great-Britain and Ireland; and their influence on the landed interest. With an appendix, containing the modern politico-commercial geography of the several countries of Europe. Author: Adam Anderson; William Combe; John Walter; Logographic Press. The coffee houses were great social levellers, open to all men and indifferent to social status, and as a result associated with equality and republicanism.
More generally, coffee houses became meeting places where business could be carried on, news exchanged and The London Gazette (government announcements) read. Lloyd's of London had its origins in a coffeehouse run by Edward Lloyd, where underwriters of ship insurance met to do business. By 1739, there were 551 coffeehouses in London. Each attracted a particular clientele divided by occupation or attitude, such as Tories and Whigs, wits and stockjobbers, merchants and lawyers, booksellers and authors, men of fashion or the "cits" of the old city center. Joseph Addison wanted to have it said of him that he had "brought philosophy out of closets and libraries to dwell in clubs and assemblies, at tea tables and in coffee houses". According to one French visitor, Antoine François Prévost, coffeehouses, "where you have the right to read all the papers for and against the government", were the "seats of English liberty".Prévost, Abbé (1930) Adventures of a man of quality (translation of Séjour en Angleterre, v. 5 of Mémoires et avantures d'un homme de qualité qui s'est retiré du monde) G. Routledge & Sons, London,
Gentleman clubs
Gentlemen's clubs proliferated in the 18th century, especially in the West End of London. Clubs took over the role occupied by coffee houses in 18th-century London to some degree and reached the height of their influence in the late 19th century. Some notable names were White's, Brooks's, Arthur's and Boodle's which still exist today.
These social changes, in which a closed and largely illiterate public became an open and politicized one, was to become of tremendous political importance in the 19th century as the mass media was circulated ever more widely and literacy was steadily improved. Governments increasingly recognized the importance of managing and directing public opinion. This trend is exemplified in the career of George Canning who restyled his political career from its aristocratic origins to one of popular consent when he contested and won the parliamentary seat in Liverpool, a city with a growing and affluent middle class which he attributed to the growing influence of "public opinion".Stephen M. Lee, "George Canning and Liberal Toryism, 1801–1827" Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer, 2008
Jeremy Bentham was an impassioned advocate of the importance of public opinion in the shaping of constitutional governance. He thought it important that all government acts and decisions should be subject to the inspection of public opinion, because "to the pernicious exercise of the power of government it is the only check". He opined that public opinion had the power to ensure that rulers would rule for the greatest happiness of the greater number. He brought in Utilitarian philosophy in order to define theories of public opinion.
Public meetings and newspapers
By the 1820s public opinion became a central force in British political life, increasingly influencing government policy and party strategy. The power of public opinion was closely tied to the expansion of literacy, the growth of the press, and the rise of mass political participation. Politicians held large local meetings and their speeches were widely disseminated. Asa Briggs, The Age of Improvement 1783–1867 (1959) pp.193–207. Newspapers played an increasingly central role. According to historian Aled Jones, the energies released by Victorian politics promoted a "lively and heterogeneous press, and the emergence of reformed political and administrative systems was the subject of intense scrutiny and speculation by journalists and their readers throughout Britain."Aled Jones, "Local Journalism in Victorian Political Culture" in Laurel Brake, ed. Investigating Victorian Journalism (Macmillan, 1990) pp. 63-70.Aled Jones, Powers of the press: newspapers, power and the public in nineteenth-century England (Routledge, 2016).
The expansion of the electorate was the major theme of 19th-century British reform movements. The Reform Acts (notably 1832, 1867, and 1884) progressively expanded the franchise, allowing more men—especially from the middle and working classes—to vote. The reforms greatly enlarged the political power of the fast-growing cities, and sharply reduced the role of small rotten boroughs controlled by elite families. Each reform was a response to social pressures and the growing recognition of public opinion's legitimacy. By 1900, about 40% of the men could vote, and the political parties competed vigorously to appeal to a broader public.Michael S. Smith, "Parliamentary reform and the electorate." in A Companion to Nineteenth‐Century Britain (2004): 156-173.
Political analyst A.V. Dicey argued that public opinion ruled England more than any other country, due to its advanced civil society and responsive constitution.Albert Venn Dicey, Lectures on the Relation between Law and Public Opinion in England during the Nineteenth Century (edited and with an Introduction by Richard VandeWetering (Liberty Fund, 2008).
Theory The German sociologist Ferdinand Tönnies, by using the conceptional tools of his theory of , argued (, 1922), that 'public opinion' has the equivalent social function in societies () which religion has in communities ().Rolf Fechner/Lars Clausen/Arno Bammé (eds.): Öffentliche Meinung zwischen neuer Religion und neuer Wissenschaft. Ferdinand Tönnies' "Kritik der öffentlichen Meinung" in der internationalen Diskussion, in: Tönnies im Gespräch, tom. 3, Munich/Vienna: Profil 2005, .
German social theorist Jürgen Habermas contributed the idea of public sphere to the discussion of public opinion. According to Habermas, the public sphere, or bourgeois public, is where "something approaching public opinion can be formed". Habermas claimed that the Public Sphere featured universal access, rational debate, and disregard for rank. However, he believes that these three features for how public opinion are best formed are no longer in place in western liberal democratic countries. Public opinion, in Western democracy, is highly susceptible to elite manipulation.