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1997
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Perception, Public Public perception Popular opinion Public perceptions Opinion, Public Opinion, PublicCiter ce document
Jean-Jacques Becker, « L'opinion publique : un populisme ? », Vingtième Siècle. Revue d'histoire, ID : 10.3406/xxs.1997.4493
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Public opinion: is it populism?, Jean-Jacques Becker. Has the manipulation of public opinion through the use of propaganda in totalitarian regimes been replaced in democratic regimes by its manipulation through public opinion polls? What if public opinion still existed but were a victim of its measuring instruments which have made it crazy ? It would be no more than a wild element, a permanent Poujadism, a worrisome populism at the heart of our societies' development. The authorities would govern then under the constant pressure of polls and media. This weight, particularly heavy in France, can be explained, according to Jean-Jacques Becker, by centralization and the fact that our country has more escaped the totalitarian strain than our German and Italian neighbours, vaccinated against brainwashing.