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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... Timothy Garton Ash , an eyewitness to the mobilizations in Poland , Hungary , East Germany , and Czechoslovakia , characterizes 1989 as Eastern Eu- rope's " year of truth . " 82 Ash's designation is accurate insofar as it captures the ...
... Timothy Garton Ash , " The German Revolution , " New York Review of Books , December 21 , 1989 , pp . 14- 19 ; and George Paul Csicsery , " The Siege of Nógrádi Street , Budapest , 1989 , " in Without Force or Lies , ed . Brinton and ...
... Timothy Garton Ash , " The Revolution of the Magic Lantern , " New York Review of Books , January 18 , 1990 , pp . 42-51 . See also Abel , Shattered Bloc , chap . 3 . 41. Economist , December 2 , 1989 , p . 55 . 42. See Timur Kuran ...
Contents
Collective Conservatism | 105 |
The Obstinacy of Communism | 118 |
The Ominous Perseverance of the Caste System | 128 |
Copyright | |
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