Private truths, public lies : the social consequences of preference falsification / Timur Kuran.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kuran, Timur, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Social influence.

Truthfulness and falsehood.

Knowledge, Theory of.

Public opinion.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xv, 423 pages) : illustrations

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 1995.

System Details:

text file

Summary:

Preference falsification, according to the economist Timur Kuran, is the act of misrepresenting one's wants under perceived social pressures. It happens frequently in everyday life, as when we tell the host of a dinner party that we are enjoying the food when we actually find it bland. In Private Truths, Public Lies Kuran argues convincingly that the phenomenon not only is ubiquitous but has huge social and political consequences. Drawing on diverse intellectual traditions, including ones rooted in economics, psychology, sociology, and political science, Kuran provides a unified theory of how preference falsification shapes collective decisions, orients structural change, sustains social stability, distorts human knowledge, and conceals political possibilities.

Private Truths, Public Lies uses its theoretical argument to illuminate an array of puzzling social phenomena. They include the unexpected fall of communism, the paucity, until recently, of open opposition to affirmative action in the United States, and the durability of the beliefs that have sustained India's caste system.

Contents:

1. The Significance of Preference Falsification

2. Private and Public Preferences

3. Private Opinion, Public Opinion

4. The Dynamics of Public Opinion

5. Institutional Sources of Preference Falsification

6. Collective Conservatism

7. The Obstinacy of Communism

8. The Ominous Perseverance of the Caste System

9. The Unwanted Spread of Affirmative Action

10. Public Discourse and Private Knowledge

11. The Unthinkable and the Unthought

12. The Caste Ethic of Submission

13. The Blind Spots of Communism

14. The Unfading Specter of White Racism

15. Unforeseen Political Revolutions

16. The Fall of Communism and Other Sudden Overturns

17. The Hidden Complexities of Social Evolution

18. From Slavery to Affirmative Action

19. Preference Falsification and Social Analysis.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 351-408) and index.

Print version record.

Other Format:

Print version: Kuran, Timur. Private truths, public lies.

ISBN:

9780674248120

0674248120

OCLC:

652389525

Publisher Number:

10.2307/j.ctvt1sgqt

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.