THE POTENTIAL FOR PUBLIC OPINION TO GENERATE CHANGE IN POLICY FORMATION Peter M. Roguszka A thesis submitted to the University of Notre Dame Australia in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. College of Education 2002 Contents THE POTENTIAL FOR PUBLIC OPINION TO GENERATE CHANGE IN POLICY FORMATION .....................................................................................................................................II CONTENTS....................................................................................................................................... III ABSTRACT.................................................................................................................................... VIII CANDIDATE'S STATEMENT ........................................................................................................IX ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................................. X CHAPTER ONE UNPLANNED CHANGE IN EDUCATION .......................................................1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................................1 THE LITERACY CRISIS IN PUBLIC EDUCATION ....................................................................................1 THE DEMAND FOR ACCOUNTABILITY IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS ................................................................4 FROM ACADEMIC TO VOCATIONAL: SUBJECT CHOICES MADE BY YEAR 11 AND YEAR 12 STUDENTS...........................................................................................................................................7 THE PROBLEM AND THE QUESTION IT PROMPTS .................................................................................9 A POSSIBLE ANSWER BEGINS TO EMERGE ........................................................................................10 PUBLIC OPINION: AN AGENT FOR CHANGE? ....................................................................................11 Towards developing an explanation ............................................................................................13 Considering all parts of Public Opinion ......................................................................................14 Developing and Changing Opinion..............................................................................................16 Towards a Theory of Australian Public Opinion .........................................................................18 CHAPTER TWO CRITICAL THEORY ........................................................................................19 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................19 The First Generation....................................................................................................................21 The Second Generation................................................................................................................28 The Third Generation...................................................................................................................32 CONCLUSION ....................................................................................................................................37 CHAPTER THREE THE NATURE OF OPINION .......................................................................38 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................38 OPINION AND ASSOCIATED TERMS ....................................................................................................38 Attitude.........................................................................................................................................38 Beliefs...........................................................................................................................................41 Likes, Dislikes, Sentiments, superstitions and prejudices ...........................................................42 Values...........................................................................................................................................42 iii Opinion ........................................................................................................................................43 THE INITIAL FORMATION OF OPINION...............................................................................................46 The Role of Moral Reasoning in Opinion Development...............................................................56 Learning and Conditioning in Opinion Formation......................................................................61 CONCLUSION ....................................................................................................................................61 CHAPTER FOUR THE DEVELOPMENT OF OPINION ...........................................................64 PREJUDICE ........................................................................................................................................65 Childhood Socialisation...............................................................................................................66 Salient Incidents...........................................................................................................................69 Repeated Exposure.......................................................................................................................70 STEREOTYPES ...................................................................................................................................71 The Nature of Stereotypes. ...........................................................................................................76 The Development of Prejudice and Stereotypes in the Young Child............................................79 THE ROLE OF GROUPS ON OPINION DEVELOPMENT..........................................................................83 Social Identity Theory ..................................................................................................................85 OPINION DEVELOPMENT AND THE MEDIA ........................................................................................87 SUMMARY.........................................................................................................................................88 CHAPTER FIVE OPINION CHANGE...........................................................................................91 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................91 The Content of Opinion................................................................................................................91 COGNITIVE THEORIES OF ATTITUDE CHANGE...................................................................................94 Heider’s Balance Theory .............................................................................................................95 Festinger’s Dissonance Theory....................................................................................................98 Cognitive Response Theories .....................................................................................................101 A WORKABLE MODEL OF ATTITUDE CHANGE................................................................................ 101 The Model .................................................................................................................................. 104 ATTITUDE IMPORTANCE ................................................................................................................. 112 ATTITUDE INSTABILITY .................................................................................................................. 113 MAINSTREAM AND POLARIZATION EFFECTS................................................................................... 116 The Mainstream Effect ............................................................................................................... 116 The Polarisation Effect .............................................................................................................. 117 Two-sided Information Flow Effects. ......................................................................................... 119 SUMMARY....................................................................................................................................... 122 CHAPTER SIX ELITE DISCOURSE AND THE MEDIA.......................................................... 124 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................... 124 WHO OWNS AUSTRALIA’S MEDIA?................................................................................................. 124 THE SOCIO-POLITICAL BACKGROUND OF ELITE DISCOURSE .......................................................... 127 Late Twentieth Century Elite Discourse .................................................................................... 131 iv The New Right............................................................................................................................ 133 Postmodernism and the New Right ...........................................................................................