POL2272 Sondages et opinion publique

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POL2272Sondages et opinion publique

• Quest-ce que lopinion publique?

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De multiples définitions

• Public opinion may be said to be that sentiment
  on any given subject which is entertained by the
  best informed, most intelligent, and most moral
  person in the community. W.A. MacKinnon, 1828
• There exists at any given time a body of
  beliefs, convictions, sentiments, accepted
  principles, or firmly rooted prejudices, which
  taken together, make up the public opinion of a
  particular era, or what we may call the reigning
  or predominant current of opinion. Albert V.
  Dicey, 1905

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De multiples définitions

• The pictures inside the heads of these human
  beings, the pictures of themselves, of others, of
  their needs, purposes, and relationships are
  their public opinions. Those pictures which are
  acted upon by groups of people, or by individuals
  acting in the name of groups, are Public Opinion
  with capital letters. Walter Lippman, 1922
• Public opinion upon any matter was conceived as
  the hypothetical result of an imaginary
  plebiscite thereon. R.C. Binkley, 1927
• Public opinion is the social judgment reached
  upon a question of general or civic import after
  conscious, rational public discussion. Clyde L.
  King, 1928

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De multiples définitions

• In order to have public opinion there must be a
  coincidence of individual opinions covering a
  sufficient number of persons, and preferably a
  majority of them. W.B. Munro, 1931
• It is rather exaggerated to pretend that there
  exists at the present time, a public opinion, in
  the intellectual sense, outside of the elite.
  J.A. Sauerwein, 1933
• The attitudes, feelings, or ideas of the large
  body of the people about important public
  issues. D.W. Minar, 1960

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De multiples définitions

• The term public opinion is given its meaning
  with reference to a multi-individual situation in
  which individuals are expressing themselves, or
  can be called upon to express themselves,
  favoring (or else disfavouring) some definite
  condition, person, or proposal of widespread
  importance, in such a proportion of number,
  intensity, and consistency, as to give rise to
  the probability of affecting action, directly or
  indirectly, toward the object concerned. Floyd
  H. Allport, 1937
• Public opinion in this discussion may simply be
  taken to mean those opinions held by private
  persons which governments find it prudent to
  heed. V.O. Key, 1961

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De multiples définitions

• Generations of philosophers, jurists,
  historians, political theorists, and journalism
  scholars have torn their hair in the attempt to
  provide a clear definition of public opinion.
  (...) Moreover, no progress has been made since
  that time. Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann, 1993

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Opinion publique
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Opinion publique

• Public opinion is what opinion polls try to
  measure or what they measure with some error.
  Philip E. Converse, 1987

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Opinion publique

• Opinion
• jugement
• subjectif

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Opinion ?

• Paul Martin est le Premier ministre du Canada.

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Opinion ?

• Les meurtriers devraient recevoir la peine de
  mort.

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Opinion ?

• Jai voté lors de la dernière élection.

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Opinion ?

• On devrait bannir la cigarette.

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Opinion ?

• La Heineken sent la mouffette.

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Opinion ?

• Les coupures dimpôts constituent le meilleur
  moyen de stimuler léconomie.

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Opinion publique

• Publique
• contraire de privé
• sphère collective
• population

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Opinion publique

• Définition
• Les opinions des citoyens sur un sujet
  dimportance pour la société.

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Opinion publique?

• Les meurtriers devraient recevoir la peine de
  mort.
• On devrait bannir la cigarette.
• La Heineken sent la mouffette.
• Les coupures dimpôts constitue le meilleur moyen
  de stimuler léconomie.

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Évolution du concept

• Platon (427-347 AEC)
• Aristote (384-322 AEC)
• Machiavelli (1469-1527) La meilleure
  forteresse quun prince puisse avoir est
  laffection de ses peuples sil est haï, toutes
  les forteresses quil pourra avoir ne le
  sauveront pas.
• Hobbes (1588-1679) Lopinion gouverne le
  monde.
• Temple (1628-1699) Lopinion forme la base et
  les fondements de tout gouvernement .
• Locke (1632-1704) la loi de lopinion.

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Évolution du concept

• Rousseau (1712-1778) La volonté générale peut
  seule diriger le forces de lÉtat selon la fin de
  son institution, qui et le bien commun.
• Hume (1711-1776) Ainsi, le gouvernement nest
  fondé que sur lopinion et ce principe
  sapplique aussi bien aux états les plus
  despotiques et les plus militaires quaux états
  les plus libres et les plus populaires.
• Necker (1732-1804) Seul les fous, les
  théoriciens pures et les apprentis ignorent de
  tenir compte de lopinion publique.
• Bentham (1748-1832), Thomas Jefferson
  (1743-1826), Madison (1751-1836) et Mill
  (1806-1873)

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Évolution du concept

• Le 20è siècle ...