Calendar

WEEK #  TOPICS
1 Introduction and Overview of the Course
Part 1: Preliminaries
2 The Meaning and Measurement of Public Opinion
Part 2: Questions of Competence
3 Political Ignorance: Causes and Effects
4 The Search for Overarching Principles: Ideology and Political Reasoning
Part 3: Building From the Ground Up: Opinion Ingredients and The Micro-Foundations of Public Preferences
5 Material Interests (Or Symbolic Politics?)
6 Groups in American Politics: Us and Them
7 Principles and Values
Part 4: The World Out There: Society and Politics
8 Social Influence
9 Framing, Priming and Media Effects
10 The Miracle of Aggregation and Enlightened Preferences (Is Anyone Right?)
11 Public Opinion and Public Policy
12 Public Opinion and Foreign Policy
Part 5: Reflections
13 Final Thoughts: The Place of Public Opinion in Democratic Politics