The Handbook of Public Sector Communication

Part IPublic Sector Communication and Society

Michael X. Delli Carpini

Introduction

In his 1742 book, Essays, Moral, Political, and Literary, the Scottish philosopher David Hume reflected on “the easiness with which the many are governed by the few; and the implicit submission, with which men resign their own sentiments and passions to those of their rulers.” This despite the fact that “force is always on the side of the governed, [while] the governors have nothing to support them but opinion.” He concludes that it is “on opinion only that government is founded; and this maxim extends to the most despotic and most military governments, as well as to the most free and most popular” (p. 28).

One can debate how easily the many submit to the few, as well as whether force is always unequivocally on the side of the governed, though recent populist stirrings across the globe, and the variety of ways they have manifest themselves certainly suggest that Hume's observations remain relevant today. And the importance of “public opinion” for polities ranging from democratic to authoritarian is indisputable. These opinions can range from deep‐seated attitudes and beliefs about the ways in which the public sector operates—what might be called “procedural justice”—to more specific views on the tangible outcomes produced by this process, or “distributive justice” (Lind & Tyler 1988; Thibaut & Walker 1975).

If one accepts the importance of public opinion to governance, it follows that communication ...