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Karl Popper's methodology highlights our scientific ignorance: hence the need to institutionalize open-mindedness through controlled experiments, which may falsify our fallible theories about the world. Popper's approach to politics, however, underplays the problem of ignorance. In endorsing "piecemeal social engineering," Popper assumes that the social-democratic state & its citizens are capable of detecting social problems, & of assessing the results of policies aimed at solving them, through a process of experimentation analogous to that of natural science. But just as in science, the facts that underpin political debate are brought to our attention by theories that, as Max Weber emphasized, can be tested only through counterfactual thought experiments. & public-opinion & political-psychology research suggest that human beings are far too ignorant, illogical, & doctrinaire to conduct rigorous testing of the theories that inform their political views. F. A. Hayek realized that the public could not engage, specifically, in intelligent "piecemeal engineering" of the economy, but he failed to draw the conclusion that this was due to a specific type of political ignorance: ignorance of economic theory. Appendixes, References. Adapted from the source document.

Introduces a special journal issue on academic & media bias, the perceptions of political reality that journalists take to be uncontroversial & that therefore inform their scholarship & journalism. References. Adapted from the source document.

An introduction to a double issue on "The Shaping of Public Opinion" explores the powerful impact of the media on perceptions of political reality & the lack of attention public-opinion researchers have given to the media as the source of people's stereotypes about the political world. It is maintained that ideas about what best serves a person's economic, racial, or gender interests are generally acquired from the mass media. Consideration is given to the importance of studying the impact of corporate owners on media content & the possibility that the receipt of different cultural messages is responsible for people's differing opinions. The nature of political knowledge is discussed, along with the fallacy of political debate; problematic aspects of expert authorities; & the media's ability to disseminate political myths. It is concluded that bringing the media back into the study of public opinion will require replacing interests with stereotypes produced by the media & other cultural mediators, & acknowledging the pervasiveness of ignorance of the world. A synopsis of each chapter is included. 14 References. J. Lindroth

In a certain sense, voluntary communities & market relationships are relatively less coercive than democracy & bureaucracy: they offer more positive freedom. In that respect, they are more like romantic relationships or friendships than are democracies & bureaucracies. This tends to make voluntary communities & markets not only more pleasant forms of interaction, but more effective ones -- contrary to Weber's confidence in the superior rationality of bureaucratic control. 14 References. Adapted from the source document.

An introduction to a special issue on globalization examines the debate between its supporters & detractors. It is noted that many believe globalization was already a fact in the 19th century, contrasting the first "liberal international economic order" with the second, & calling attention to the interval between the two, as well as differences in the politics that ended the first & shaped the second. Key issues examined by the contributors include globalization-induced competition between First World workers & Third World wages; the threat of nationalism; the possibility of a laissez-faire financial system in which currencies are tied to commodities; & the idealistic foundation of the new antiglobalist Left. It is noted that the new activists have failed to offer an alternative to globalization that would more effectively relieve poverty or sweatshop conditions. First World investment in the Third World combined with free trade is seen as the only realistic approach at a time when gates are being closed to immigrants, & people are unwilling to redistribute any major proportion of their wealth to Third World people in need. 11 References. J. Lindroth