2. Public 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.
It is basically the views of people or perspectives , norms ,beliefs ,
expressed by a significant proportion of a community.
It particularly depicts that what people thinks about a particular thing
whether it is political or anything else.
3. Minority can never be a public opinion and an opinion needs a
significant quantity of people to become a public opinion.
Whenever the opinions of two or more views of individual interact
with each other something new comes out.
Books written related to public opinion:- BY WALTER LIPPMAN
PUBLIC
OPINION
(1922)
THE
PHANTOM
PUBLIC (1927)
4. 1.} FAMILY:- Family is considered to be
the first important centre where public
opinion is formed, it is the family where
people learn to develop their habits, likes
and dislikes. These individual with all
this habits emerges in the society and
learn to cooperate and non-cooperate
with others. When the individual being
expresses his opinion in the society that
will ultimately become a part of public
opinion.
5. School:- School also acts as
an agency of measuring public
opinion for an individual
because students interacts with
teachers and their peer groups
and give their opinion related
to various things like whether
it is related to study or gossips
with the other students about a
particular topic.
6. Press: The most useful and effective
instrument for the formation of public
opinion is the press. It is informative as
well as formative of public opinion. It
is a medium through which individuals
get the information and news on the
matter relating to national interest and
public interest. A good newspaper,
media, press are the mirrors of
democracy. The people believe
instantly without giving a second
thought on whatever it is written on the
newspaper or whatever they watch in
the channels. Therefore, press is
nothing but a strong linkage between
the common people and the
Government.
7. Political Parties: it also equally
plays an important role in the
formation of public opinion. The
leader of the political parties have a
very strong impact on the ‘people’.
The political parties undertake
many constructive programmes and
delivers impressive speeches and
conducts different events in the
society so as to propagate their
ideology. In this way political
parties develop and strengthen
public opinion.
8. Radio, T.V. and Internet: in this age
of information revolution Radio, T.V. and
Internet contribute significantly to the
formulation of public opinion. Radio and
T.V. talks and debates act as motivating
factors for the formulation of public
opinion. These act as agencies of political
education. Use of these during elections
acts a means for making and changing
public opinion.
9. Educational Institutions:
In the educational institutions classroom- lectures,
speeches, meetings and seminars of different kinds
are arranged. The eminent leaders, scholars, and
writers participate in these meetings and
assemblies and through the mutual exchange of
views influence the views of the students and
teachers.
Also the views expressed by the teachers in their
classes influence the students. At times the views
thus expressed become the part and parcel of the
thinking of the students. Also the syllabi meant for
teaching in the educational institutions are
prepared with some specific objectives. All this
helps in the formulation of public opinion.
10. Religious Institutions: Man’s
political views are also influenced by
his religious views. In India,
especially many political parties are
based on religion. Religious
congregations in India always have a
political face. Under the cloak of
religion, political views are expressed
and spread. The people ‘faithfully’
follow these views and in this way
public opinion gets formulated.
