Group experiment and other writings : the Frankfurt School on public opinion in postwar Germany / Friedrich Pollock, Theodor W. Adorno; edited by Jeffrey K. Olick and Andrew J. Perrin.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Pollock, Friedrich, 1894-1970, author.

Adorno, Theodor W., 1903-1969, author.

Contributor:

Olick, Jeffrey K., 1964- editor.

Perrin, Andrew J., 1971- editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Public opinion--Germany.

Public opinion.

Germany--History--1945-1990.

Germany.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (268 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University Press, [2011]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

During the occupation of West Germany after the Second World War, the American authorities commissioned polls to assess the values and opinions of ordinary Germans. They concluded that the fascist attitudes of the Nazi era had weakened to a large degree. Theodor W. Adorno and his Frankfurt School colleagues, who returned in 1949 from the United States, were skeptical. They held that standardized polling was an inadequate and superficial method for exploring such questions. In their view, public opinion is not simply an aggregate of individually held opinions, but is fundamentally a public concept, formed through interaction in conversations and with prevailing attitudes and ideas “in the air.” In Group Experiment, edited by Friedrich Pollock, they published their findings on their group discussion experiments that delved deeper into the process of opinion formation. Andrew J. Perrin and Jeffrey K. Olick make a case that these experiments are an important missing link in the ontology and methodology of current social-science survey research.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

List of Tables and Figures

Preface

Original Publication Information

Translators’ Introduction

Foreword

Introduction

1 The Group Discussion Method

2 The Organization of the Discussion Materials

3 Quantitative Analyses

4 Integration Phenomena in Group Discussions

Afterword

Appendix A. Findings of a Study of the Silent Participants

Appendix B. From a Monograph on “Aspects of Language”

Final Version of the Basic Stimulus (Colburn Letter)

Opinion Research and Publicness

Notes

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780674276901

0674276906