Slavko Splichal is professor of mass communications and public opinion at the University of Ljubjana and director of the European Institute for Communication and Culture.

• Chapter 1 IntroductionChapter 2 Publicity, the Public, and Public OpinionChapter 3 Public Opinion: The Substance or Phantom of Democracy?Chapter 4 Public Opinion as a Form of Social Will: Toennies' CritiqueChapter 5 Public Opinion and Participation: The Dewey-Lippmann ControversyChapter 6 Public Opinion as Panopticon: A Critique of the Spiral of SilenceChapter 7 Political Institutionalization of Public Opinion: Controversies on PollingChapter 8 Public Opinion and the Mass Media: Questions of Democratization and Regulation

A thorough treatment of normative issues that lend themselves well to graduate seminar discussions or provide the basis of points raised in undergraduate lectures. The book's theoretical bent also makes it easy to apply the study of public opinion to a number of societies, including emerging democracies. Public Opinion promises to broaden and challenge our perspectives of the field.