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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... utility be additive . This is to say that an individual's total utility from a particular public preference equals his intrinsic utility from society's decision plus his reputational utility from the engendered social reactions plus the ...
... utility is identical to x . This can be seen in Figure 2.2 , where both utilities reach their maximum at 20. Note that the intrinsic utility function shown here looks different than the one in Figure 2.1 . This is because society's ...
... utility is absent ; in the latter , intrinsic utility is essentially fixed . Many issues fall between these extremes . If my neighbors scoff at my desire to erect a high wall around my yard and their revealed hostility makes me ...
Contents
Collective Conservatism | 105 |
The Obstinacy of Communism | 118 |
The Ominous Perseverance of the Caste System | 128 |
Copyright | |
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