Research on the Public Opinions of the USA by the Scholars in China

Li Xia

(Department of Journalism and Communication Communication University of China，Beijing 100024)

Ⅰ.Definition of“public opinion”

The domestic research on public opinions originates in the late Qing Dynasty，and the modern research on public opinions has begun in the 1980s.There has no unified definition of public opinions by Chinese scholars so far.

Public opinions are defined from three perspectives by Chinese scholars.One of the common definitions believes that public opinions are the ideas of the mass.Another one points out the relationship between public opinions and government policies from the perspective of public opinions and government policies.All the above define the static noun usage of“opinions”.Su Xueliang points out that“opinions”refer to a continuous process during which some ideas are constantly compared on the basis of wide knowledge and experience.Opinions reflect the social trends and common social psychology and serve as the way to control society.There are rational opinions as well as irrational opinions.

Generally speaking，there is no distinct difference between “opinions”and“public opinions”by domestic scholars.It is believed that“public opinions”is a“community”made by the public.Despite that the public is a vague concept;there is certain tendency and attitude towards public opinions.Public opinions can also cause stress for the authority to exert their political effect.However，it is difficult to conduct specific research on“public opinions”because it is difficult to define“public”.Therefore，the“ambiguity”and“inconsistency”of public opinions should be identified when it comes to the research.

We hold that public opinions refer to“the public’s continuous，dynamic ideas and attitudes of national politics，government policies，public problems and those who take care of these policies and problems.It is a both rational and irrational power which restricts society and is restricted by other factors.

Ⅱ.Different research schools of the public opinions of the USA

The public opinions of the USA can date back to the democracy period of ancient Greece.French ideologist Montaigne first used the phrase“public opinions”in 1588.Ideologist Rousseau approved with the huge effect of public opinions and considered it another type of law.

There are realistic school and liberal school of the research on public opinions in the USA after the Second World War，whose different ideas have led to the difference in the study on public opinions.

Realists have low evaluation of opinions.Realism holds that public opinions are irrational，ambiguous and changeable，thus cannot serve as the foundation of steady and consistent foreign policies.What’s more，realism holds that public opinions are not true，reliable or stable.As a result，they maintain that opinions that effect national conducts should be ignored to the largest extent，and that opinions cannot serve as the basis of foreign policies，which will lead to blind foreign policies and poor foreign policies execution.

Liberalism is opposite to realism，which holds that individuals are the most important behavior body，and the group formed by individuals should play an important role in international society.Therefore，individuals and international politics are directly connected.Liberalists are quite approval of the positive effect of public opinions.They argue that public opinions are true，reliable and stable，which is conducive to the execution of foreign policies and can be the decisive factor in the execution of foreign policies.

In China，scholars tend to keep neutral in realism and liberalism，who approve that public opinions are manifestation of public civil rights and that public opinions are under stress in the source and expression，thus not being the“opinions of the majority”.

Ⅲ.Origin of the public opinions of the USA

The original public opinions are considered the collection of people’s dissatis-faction，rights and requirements and public ideas intensified by class contradictions.

With the establishment of capitalism and the deepening development of market economy，it has been gradually found that public opinions are not political requirement against certain historical background.Instead，the formulation of public opinions is influenced by many factors，which can be divided into media opinions and elite opinions.

Media opinions are in line with the pseudo-environment raised by Lippmann，which is quite popular in the academic circle in China.For instance，“opinions are based on the public views and comments with the focus on the media coverage and thoughts，or opinions mainly come from media.”

Elite opinions hold that“elite are the operators behind opinions”and that“elite politics and public opinion poll are the transmission tool between public opinions and policy-makers”.Elite tend to react much faster than common people in that they can easily acquire information and get access to new trends;as elite，their opinions tend to be systemic and operable，thus being embraced by the government and policy-makers.

Ⅳ.Public opinions of the USA and its foreign policies

1.Influence of the public opinions on the foreign policies

The USA always flaunts“human rights”and claims that its foreign policies are made by the requirement of“public opinions”，which has aroused the interest of scholars.

As to why the public opinions can influence foreign policies，scholar Luo Xi adopts the“Dam Theory”raised by American scholar V·O·Key.It goes that leaders and the public are interactive and connected by opinions，which is like a dam guiding the direction of public behavior.The behavior and debates of the government should be conducted under the guidance.

It can be learnt from the Dam Theory that opinions won’t directly evoke the change of government or being transformed into policies.Opinions are the representative of public views，which can be accepted by the government selectively.

However，Chinese scholars believe that the public opinions of the USA tend to influence foreign policies in actual research.For instance，scholar Wang Mingming analyzes the influence from the perspective of the inner structure of the nation.

Many scholars have made case researches to better illustrate the relation between the two.Fr example，whether the USA is willing to approval China’s entry the UN is a classical case.The data of public opinion poll and the consistency of foreign policies have proved the relation between foreign policies and public opinions quantitatively.

2.Public opinions of the USA and its war policy

There is a characteristic research on the public opinions of the USA，namely the research on the relationship between public opinions and the USA overseas wars.Despite that overseas war is the most important part of the foreign policies of the USA;it consumes large quantity of labor，material resources and financial resources，which is the extramalization of foreign policies contradictions.The research on public opinions and wars contributes to the better understanding of the influence of public opinions and foreign opinions.Many scholars hold that public opinions have exerted decisive effect on overseas wars policies of the USA.

However，some scholars have noticed that public opinions are still influenced by the government and mass media during war times.Wu Gang argues that the USA government guides pubic opinions by the authority of events in The Strategy Analysis of Domestic Public Opinions of the USA during the Wartime.

Wu Gang gives the example of the Iraq War to illustrate his view.Guided by mass media，public opinions have advanced towards the direction as is expected by the government.It seems that the foreign policies of the government have won the favor of domestic public opinions，but in fact，the right to know of the public has been sacrificed and what’s more，it is the accuracy of news and professional ethics of the journalists that have been impaired.

Ⅴ.Conclusion

In one word，the following are the characters of the research on the public opinions of the USA by Chinese scholars:

First，the research on the public opinions of the USA focuses on the discussion on public opinions and foreign policies，especially the Sino-U.S.relation influenced by public opinions，which have been studied in large quantities of documents.Researchers have conducted the study from the perspective of political economy of communications in the hope that the value of public opinions can be illustrated by the relationship between the change of public opinions and formulation of the USA foreign policies.Now that public opinions can influence the foreign policies formulated by the USA and the Sino-U.S.relation，it is an urgent task to guide the public opinions of the USA.

Second，large quantity of historical materials has been introduced in the research，such as the foreign policies of the US government in different periods and historical wars，which have made the research more scientific and detailed.However，important historical incidents are chosen while modern incidents are less considered.

The role of mass media has also been stressed in the research on the public opinions.It is believed that the formulation of public opinions is under the influence of mass media.Media is the only channel for the mass to understand international relations.Therefore，the authority of media has determined its public image in the mind of other countries.

However，there are some problems of the research on the public opinions of the USA by Chinese scholars:

The subject and research perspective are rather limited:when it comes to the research on the public opinions and foreign policies，it is generally believed that the two are interrelated and then relevant cases are given to prove the relationship between the two.Considering the limited research on the public opinions，there are few researches on the generation，features and value of public opinions.The connection between the public opinions and foreign policies shows certain ideology tendency，holding that the government and media control the public opinions and the latter restrict the government to some extent.We hold that the research should jump out of the category of the public opinions the Sino-U.S.relation and take into consideration of the difference between the public opinions of the USA and those of China，and establish new research perspective by comparing the different expression，effect and restriction on the government.

Quite a few researchers have noticed the relationship between media and public opinions，but their discussions are quite simple.The rapid development of new media has undoubtedly opened a new window for public opinions，but the research on the US new media and public opinions are quite limited.The impressive development of the US social websites has caught the eye of people of all ages.A topic on the social website can be the focus and its comment and retransmission can be influential，making it the representative of public opinions.We believe that it is thought-provoking that how the new expression of new media and public opinions may finally influence the public polices of the USA in the information age.

Notes:

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