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Opinion Formation (opinion + formation)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Humanities and Social Sciences100%

Selected Abstracts

Censorship and Opinion Formation:,Franziska Linkerhand,on the GDR Stage

GERMAN LIFE AND LETTERS, Issue 3 2010
Laura Bradley
ABSTRACT This article uses the stage history of,Franziska Linkerhand,to cast new perspectives on GDR theatre after Wolf Biermann's expatriation. Whilst this period is usually associated with a retreat from experimentation, new space for innovative contemporary drama opened up in the spring and summer of 1978. Christoph Schroth's groundbreaking production of,Franziska Linkerhand,was judged a qualified success when it was premièred in Schwerin, but it sparked controversy in Leipzig and especially in East Berlin. After prolonged negotiations, performances in Schwerin were allowed to continue, but plans for new productions in Halle and Wittenberg were dropped. The changing theatrical fortunes of,Franziska Linkerhand,thus allow us to trace processes of opinion formation within the theatre community and political establishment, and to show how and why the Culture Ministry had to change its policy on GDR drama in autumn 1978 , a change which historians have previously overlooked. The case study also sheds new light on the nature and extent of regional differences in GDR theatre censorship in the 1970s: whilst East Berlin's First Party Secretary pushed for tighter restrictions than the Ministry, the different decisions reached in other regions can be explained by the changes in central policy. An hand einer Untersuchung der Inszenierungsgeschichte von,Franziska Linkerhand,wirft dieser Beitrag ein neues Licht auf das DDR-Theater nach der Ausbürgerung Wolf Biermanns. Obwohl die Jahre nach 1976 gewöhnlich mit einem Rückgang an künstlerischen Experimenten assoziiert werden, öffnete sich im Frühling und Sommer 1978 neuer Raum für innovative Gegenwartsdramatik. Christoph Schroths bahnbrechende Inszenierung von,Franziska Linkerhand,schien sich in Schwerin anfangs durchgesetzt zu haben, löste in Leipzig und vor allem in Ostberlin jedoch heftige Kontroversen aus. Nach langen Verhandlungen durfte das Stück in Schwerin weiterhin aufgeführt werden, Pläne für neue Inszenierungen in Halle und Wittenberg wurden jedoch gestrichen. Der Beitrag unternimmt den Versuch, an hand dieser Entwicklungen der Meinungsbildung unter Theaterleuten und Funktionären nachzuspüren und somit zu erklären, warum das Ministerium für Kultur im Herbst 1978 seine Linie im Hinblick auf die Gegenwartsdramatik ändern musste. Historiker haben diesen Kurswechsel bisher übersehen. Die Fallstudie bietet auch neue Einsichten in die Ursachen und das Ausmaß regionaler Unterschiede in der DDR-Theaterzensur der siebziger Jahre: während der Erste Sekretär der Ostberliner SED-Bezirksleitung eine strengere Politik als das Ministerium vertrat, lassen sich die unterschiedlichen Entscheidungen in anderen Bezirken durch den Kurswechsel in der zentralen Theaterpolitik erklären. [source]

Polls and Elections: Opinion Formation, Polarization, and Presidential Reelection

PRESIDENTIAL STUDIES QUARTERLY, Issue 3 2009
BARRY C. BURDEN
The authors examine the dynamics of public opinion formation and change around a sitting president and their implications for reelection contests. Because of the biases inherent in information processing and the information environment, two distinct, but simultaneous, effects of citizen learning during a presidential term are expected. For those with prior opinions of the president, learning contributes to more polarized evaluations of the president. For those initially uncertain about the president, learning contributes to opinion formation about the president. Because the gap in uncertainty generally favors the incumbent over a lesser-known challenger, races with an incumbent presidential candidate are typically marked, perhaps paradoxically, by both a polarization of public opinion and an incumbency advantage. [source]

Ideology,Driven opinion formation in Europe: The case of attitudes towards the third sector in Sweden

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF POLITICAL RESEARCH, Issue 4 2001
STAFFAN KUMLIN
This paper uses attitudes towards the third sector in Sweden to test general assumptions about how citizens in West European political systems apply ideological schemas as shortcuts to political preferences. Attitudes towards the third sector are found to be affected by all ideological schemas reflected in the Swedish party system (state,market, Christian traditionalism, and growth,ecology). Contrary to what is implied by findings from America, these effects are very stable across socio,economic groups (especially those of the dominant statemarket schema). Similarly, no interaction effects of political sophistication could be traced, and the relative impact of the schemas remains the same regardless of whether or not the third sector is presented as an alternative to the welfare state. The implications of these findings for the nature of public opinion formation in ideologically clear and structured political systems are discussed. [source]

Censorship and Opinion Formation:,Franziska Linkerhand,on the GDR Stage

GERMAN LIFE AND LETTERS, Issue 3 2010
Laura Bradley
ABSTRACT This article uses the stage history of,Franziska Linkerhand,to cast new perspectives on GDR theatre after Wolf Biermann's expatriation. Whilst this period is usually associated with a retreat from experimentation, new space for innovative contemporary drama opened up in the spring and summer of 1978. Christoph Schroth's groundbreaking production of,Franziska Linkerhand,was judged a qualified success when it was premièred in Schwerin, but it sparked controversy in Leipzig and especially in East Berlin. After prolonged negotiations, performances in Schwerin were allowed to continue, but plans for new productions in Halle and Wittenberg were dropped. The changing theatrical fortunes of,Franziska Linkerhand,thus allow us to trace processes of opinion formation within the theatre community and political establishment, and to show how and why the Culture Ministry had to change its policy on GDR drama in autumn 1978 , a change which historians have previously overlooked. The case study also sheds new light on the nature and extent of regional differences in GDR theatre censorship in the 1970s: whilst East Berlin's First Party Secretary pushed for tighter restrictions than the Ministry, the different decisions reached in other regions can be explained by the changes in central policy. An hand einer Untersuchung der Inszenierungsgeschichte von,Franziska Linkerhand,wirft dieser Beitrag ein neues Licht auf das DDR-Theater nach der Ausbürgerung Wolf Biermanns. Obwohl die Jahre nach 1976 gewöhnlich mit einem Rückgang an künstlerischen Experimenten assoziiert werden, öffnete sich im Frühling und Sommer 1978 neuer Raum für innovative Gegenwartsdramatik. Christoph Schroths bahnbrechende Inszenierung von,Franziska Linkerhand,schien sich in Schwerin anfangs durchgesetzt zu haben, löste in Leipzig und vor allem in Ostberlin jedoch heftige Kontroversen aus. Nach langen Verhandlungen durfte das Stück in Schwerin weiterhin aufgeführt werden, Pläne für neue Inszenierungen in Halle und Wittenberg wurden jedoch gestrichen. Der Beitrag unternimmt den Versuch, an hand dieser Entwicklungen der Meinungsbildung unter Theaterleuten und Funktionären nachzuspüren und somit zu erklären, warum das Ministerium für Kultur im Herbst 1978 seine Linie im Hinblick auf die Gegenwartsdramatik ändern musste. Historiker haben diesen Kurswechsel bisher übersehen. Die Fallstudie bietet auch neue Einsichten in die Ursachen und das Ausmaß regionaler Unterschiede in der DDR-Theaterzensur der siebziger Jahre: während der Erste Sekretär der Ostberliner SED-Bezirksleitung eine strengere Politik als das Ministerium vertrat, lassen sich die unterschiedlichen Entscheidungen in anderen Bezirken durch den Kurswechsel in der zentralen Theaterpolitik erklären. [source]

Accountable democracy: Citizens' impact on public decision making in postdictatorship chile

AMERICAN ETHNOLOGIST, Issue 4 2004
Julia Paley
ABSTRACT Using a Santiago, Chile, health group as an ethnographic case study, I propose "accountable democracy" as an alternative normative project to the theory of deliberative democracy outlined by Habermas in Between Facts and Norms. Accountable democracy has at its center the impact of public-sphere opinion formation on decision making by officials in elected governments. [source]

Polls and Elections: Opinion Formation, Polarization, and Presidential Reelection

PRESIDENTIAL STUDIES QUARTERLY, Issue 3 2009
BARRY C. BURDEN
The authors examine the dynamics of public opinion formation and change around a sitting president and their implications for reelection contests. Because of the biases inherent in information processing and the information environment, two distinct, but simultaneous, effects of citizen learning during a presidential term are expected. For those with prior opinions of the president, learning contributes to more polarized evaluations of the president. For those initially uncertain about the president, learning contributes to opinion formation about the president. Because the gap in uncertainty generally favors the incumbent over a lesser-known challenger, races with an incumbent presidential candidate are typically marked, perhaps paradoxically, by both a polarization of public opinion and an incumbency advantage. [source]