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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... tion is a remedy better suited to past maladies than to those of the present . Their ranks include Stephen Carter , Richard Epstein , Nathan Glazer , Glenn Loury , Thomas Sowell , Shelby Steele , and William Ju- lius Wilson.32 These ...
... tion without seeming to favor it personally . Subsequently , as public opinion and the national political leadership became increasingly op- posed to mandatory school desegregation , local judges felt increas- ingly vulnerable , and the ...
... tion , India Ceauşescu , Nicolae , 274-275 Censorship , 161 , 207-208 , 268 Central Institute for Youth Develop- ment , Leipzig , 211 , 266–267 Central Intelligence Agency ( CIA ) , 247 , 277 , 303 Chamorro , Violeta , 340-341 Change ...
Contents
Collective Conservatism | 105 |
The Obstinacy of Communism | 118 |
The Ominous Perseverance of the Caste System | 128 |
Copyright | |
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