Representation and Public Opinion
Module Code: PO3690
Module Name: Representation and Public Opinion
- ECTS Weighting: 10
- Semester/Term Taught: Michaelmas + Hilary Term
- Contact Hours: 2 lectures per week; 1 tutorial per fortnight
- Module Personnel: Lecturer 2013–14 – Caroline McEvoy
- 2013-14 Module Syllabus
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
- Understand the various aspects of public opinion and political participation in contemporary democracies
- Assess the nature of individual and mass political beliefs
- Explore the strengths and weaknesses of survey research and opinion polling for assessing public preferences
- Examine the complex roles of public opinion and representation in democratic theory and practice
- Consider the consequences of political behavior for elections, public policy and representation
- Describe and evaluate different interpretations of what it means for a citizen to be politically represented
- Assess the role of political parties and other political actors in translating voter preferences to policy outcomes in contemporary democracies
- Consider the strengths and weaknesses of different voting and party systems in terms of their ability to reflect and respond to changes in public opinion
- Examine inequalities in representation and explore whether or not some groups of citizens are better represented than others.
Module Learning Aims
The aim of the module is twofold. The first goal is to deepen students’ understanding of how public opinion is formed and shaped in the political space. It aims to make students aware of the both complexity of the concept and of its centrality to democratic theory and practice. The second goal is to build students’ understanding of political representation, to theoretically explore its meaning and to comparatively assess how well different institutions and systems function as instruments of representative democracy
Module Content
This course draws insights into those who are at of the heart of democracy – the people. It is designed to explore how public opinion is made ‘present’ in the political space. We will be studying how the preferences of the public are communicated to elected officials and transformed, through the legislative process, into political outcomes. Some of the questions that will be addressed in class include, where does public opinion come from? How are the preferences of individuals formed and shaped – through ideology, party identity, social groups, economic self-interest or the media? How do citizens participate in the political process and why do they vote the way they do? What is political representation? What does it mean to be a representative? How do scholars measure public opinion and representation? Do differences in voting and party systems influence the level of democratic representation? Are some citizens better represented than others?
The first part of the course will focus on opinion formation, considering the long and short term influences that shape public opinion and how citizens use the political process to have their voices heard. This section will also consider developments in opinion research and the challenges faced by scholars in measuring and understanding citizen preferences.
The second part of the course will focus on how public opinion is translated into policy outcomes. We will be studying political representation both theoretically and empirically, with a comparative focus on political systems in the USA and Europe.
Recommended Reading List
Dalton, Russell J. 2008. Citizen Politics: Public Opinion and Political Parties in Advanced Industrial Democracies. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 5th edition.
Powell, Bingham G. 2000. Elections as Instruments of Democracy: Majoritarian and Proportional Visions. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press.
Soroka, Stuart and Christopher Wlezien. 2010. Degrees of Democracy: Politics, Public Opinion and Policy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Zaller, John. 1992. The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion. New York: Cambridge Univ Press.
More readings in detailed course handout
Assessment Details
2 essays counting for 12.5% each
1 x 3-hour examination