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 42
... Soviet Union Western views antithetical to communist doctrine became part of Soviet public dis- course only after Soviet citizens came to feel that they could express similar views with impunity . The consequent broadening of Soviet ...
... Soviet Union had reached the limits of its tolerance , Gorbachev de- clared on October 25 that his country had no right to interfere in the affairs of its East European neighbors . Defining this position as " the Sinatra doctrine ...
... Soviet Russia ( New York : W. W. Norton , 1987 ) , pp . 142-143 . 13. Piotr Wierzbicki , “ A Treatise on Ticks " ( orig . Polish ed . , 1979 ) , in Poland : Genesis of a Revolution , ed . Abraham Brumberg ( New York : Random House ...
Contents
Collective Conservatism | 105 |
The Obstinacy of Communism | 118 |
The Ominous Perseverance of the Caste System | 128 |
Copyright | |
10 other sections not shown