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. |
From inside the book
Results 1-3 of 60
... figure differs from 20 , for the sources of reputational utility differ from those that determine the individual's private ordering of society's options.34 Figure 2.2 shows that the individual's optimal public preference , that which ...
... Figure 4.3 , which contains the same propagation curve as that in the previous figure . The lower hor- izontal axis represents expected public opinion ; the left vertical axis records the realization . Remaining focused on Figure 4.3 ...
... Figure 6.1 . And there is a 40 percent probability that they will form an expectation above 60 , in which case public opinion will go to 100 . If this experiment is repeated many times , where on average will public opinion be located ...
Contents
Collective Conservatism | 105 |
The Obstinacy of Communism | 118 |
The Ominous Perseverance of the Caste System | 128 |
Copyright | |
10 other sections not shown