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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... threshold to be 70. Various fac- tors could make this threshold move . If we hold all else fixed , a rise in his private preference would reduce the expressive disadvantage to supporting 100 , thus lowering the threshold . Likewise ...
... threshold down from 20 to 10. The threshold sequence becomes A1 : i Individuals a b C d e f g h i Thresholds 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 100 The new threshold of b happens to equal the existing Y of 10. So she switches sides , revealing ...
... Thresholds 0 20 30 30 40 50 60 70 80 100 It differs from A only in the threshold of c : 30 as opposed to 20. As in the previous illustration , let the threshold of b fall from 20 to 10 . The resulting sequence is B1 : Individuals a b ...
Contents
Collective Conservatism | 105 |
The Obstinacy of Communism | 118 |
The Ominous Perseverance of the Caste System | 128 |
Copyright | |
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