| J. Michael Hogan-research areas | What Does Democratic Deliberation Look Like? Does Public Opinion Polling Undermine Democratic Deliberation? |
Since the publication of Robert Putnam’s Bowling Alone, there has been
a spirited, interdisciplinary debate over the causes of an apparent decline
in citizen participation in civic affairs, especially among young people. Much
of this debate has focused on institutional and sociological explanations, with
scholars looking to political structures or demographic changes for explanations.
J. Michael Hogan takes a different approach. Documenting changes in the character
and quality of our public discourse, Hogan brings a rhetorical perspective to
questions of civic engagement and democratic deliberation. Reflecting on how
the vibrant deliberative democracy of the Progressive Era gave way to an age
of propaganda and “sound bites,” Hogan finds explanations in new
media technologies and changing definitions of “responsible” and
“eloquent” speech. From studies of how particular controversies
have evolved over time, to more narrowly focused studies of specific speakers
and debates, Hogan’s work emphasizes the importance of rhetorical education,
open forums for public deliberation, and shared standards of ethical public
speech to a healthy, sustainable deliberative democracy.
Hogan, J. Michael, ed. Rhetoric and Reform in the Progressive Era. Volume 6
of A Rhetorical History of the United States, 10 vols. East Lansing: Michigan
State University Press, 2003.
Hogan, J. Michael, ed. Rhetoric and Community: Studies in Unity and Fragmentation.
Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1998.
Hogan, J. Michael. The Nuclear Freeze Campaign: Rhetoric and Foreign Policy
in the Telepolitical Age. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1994.
Hogan, J. Michael. The Panama Canal in American Politics: Domestic Advocacy
and the Evolution of Policy. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press,
1986.
Does Public Opinion Polling Undermine Democratic Deliberation?
Since the early 1980s, there has been a dramatic proliferation of public opinion
polls sponsored by major news organizations and reported as “news”
about public attitudes toward our political leaders and the issues of the day.
According to polling’s defenders, this growth in polling has been a good
thing for democracy. Polling, in their view, gives voice to the “will
of the people” and holds our leaders accountable.
J. Michael Hogan takes a different view of the impact of polling on democratic
deliberation and policy-making. Showing how polling often supplants substantive
debate and creates illusory trends in public opinion, Hogan argues that media
polling often distorts public opinion and undermines democratic deliberation.
In short, the growth of media polling, according to Hogan, has been bad for
democracy.
Hogan, J. Michael, with George C. Edwards III, Wynton C. Hall, Christine L.
Harold, Gerard A. Hauser, Susan Herbst, Robert Y. Shapiro, and Ted J. Smith
III. “Report of the National Task Force on the Presidency and Public Opinion.”
In The Prospects of Presidential Rhetoric, ed. Martin J. Medhurst and James
Aune. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2006. In press.
Hogan, J. Michael. “The Rhetoric of Presidential Approval: Media Polling
and the White House Intern Scandal.” In Images, Scandal, and Communication
Strategies of the Clinton Presidency, ed. Robert E. Denton, Jr. and Rachel L.
Holloway, 271-98. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2003.
Hogan, J. Michael. “The ‘Science’ of Cold War Strategy: Propaganda
and Public Opinion in the Eisenhower Administration’s ‘War of Words.’”
In Critical Reflections on the Cold War: Rhetoric and History, ed. Martin J.
Medhurst and H.W. Brands, 134-68. College Station: Texas A&M University
Press, 2000.
Hogan, J. Michael. “Public Opinion and Journalistic Voyeurism: The Lesson
of the Clinton Apology.” American Communication Journal 2 (January 1999),
n.p.
[Online Journal].
Hogan, J. Michael. “George Gallup and the Rhetoric of Scientific Democracy.”
Communication Monographs 64 (June 1997): 161-79
Smith, Ted J., III and J. Michael Hogan. "Public Opinion and the Panama
Canal Treaties of 1977." Public Opinion Quarterly 51 (Spring 1987): 5-30.
Hogan, J. Michael. "Public Opinion and American Foreign Policy: The Case
of Illusory Support for the Panama Canal Treaties." Quarterly Journal of
Speech 71 (August 1985): 302-17.
Hogan, J. Michael and Ted J. Smith, III. "Polling on the Issues: Public
Opinion and the Nuclear Freeze." Public Opinion Quarterly 55 (Winter 1991):
534-69.