Private Truths, Public Lies: The Social Consequences of Preference FalsificationPreference 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, such 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 those 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. |
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... chapters draw on materials published in provi- sional form . An earlier version of Chapter 2 appeared as " Private and Public Preferences , " Economics and Philosophy , 6 ( April 1990 ) : 1-26 . Parts of Chapter 5 were included in ...
... chapter offers an inquiry into the sources of private knowledge . It is a preparatory chapter , in that it provides no role for preference falsi- fication , except at the end . The processes identified here will be used in the next chapter ...
... Chapter 8 , I showed that the persistence of the caste system owes much to preference falsification on the part of ... chapter will thus offer a first application of the theory of Chapter 11 . My objective is not , of course , to account ...
Contents
Collective Conservatism | 105 |
The Obstinacy of Communism | 118 |
The Ominous Perseverance of the Caste System | 128 |
Copyright | |
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