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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... survey , conducted between 1967 and 1974 , uncovered a widespread belief that living standards in Czechoslovakia were higher than in America , Sweden , and West Germany.29 The results of such official surveys are broadly consistent with ...
... surveys , however , because the governments in power withheld the necessary permissions . Not that polling data were nonexistent . As we saw in Chapters 13 and 16 , the communist regimes regularly con- ducted surveys . Before 1989 ...
... surveys reported by Hart cover Czechoslovakia , Hungary , Poland , Romania , and Bulgaria . 31. Marek Ziółkowski , " Individuals and the Social System : Values , Perceptions , and Behavioral Strategies , " Social Research , 55 ( Spring ...
Contents
Collective Conservatism | 105 |
The Obstinacy of Communism | 118 |
The Ominous Perseverance of the Caste System | 128 |
Copyright | |
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