Matters of Opinion Talking About Public Issues [Hardcover]

This book offers an interesting insight into 'public opinion' as reported in the media.Matters of Opinion offers an interesting new insight into 'public opinion' as reported in the media, asking where these opinions actually come from, and how they have their effects. Drawing on the analysis of conversations from focus groups, phone-ins and broadcast interviews, Greg Myers argues that members of the public use opinions in order to get along with other people, and how they say things is just as important as what they say. Engaging and informative, this book illuminates current debates on what it means to participate in public life.Matters of Opinion offers an interesting new insight into 'public opinion' as reported in the media, asking where these opinions actually come from, and how they have their effects. Drawing on the analysis of conversations from focus groups, phone-ins and broadcast interviews, Greg Myers argues that members of the public use opinions in order to get along with other people, and how they say things is just as important as what they say. Engaging and informative, this book illuminates current debates on what it means to participate in public life.Where do opinions actually come from? Drawing on the analysis of conversations from focus groups, phone-ins and broadcast interviews, Greg Myers argues that members of the public use opinions in order to get along with other people, and demonstrates that how they say things is just as important as what they say. This book clarifies the current debate on the nature of the public's participation in conversation.Acknowledgements; Transcription conventions; Focus-group data; 1. Paradoxes of opinion; 2. A tool kit for analysing group discussions; 3. Forums for opinion: 'what is it that's going on here?'; 4. Institutions of opinion: voice of the people?; 5. Topics in interaction: 'why that now?'; 6. Agreeing and disagreeing: maintaining sociable argument; 7. Representing speech: other voices, other places;l³4