Publics are small groups of people who follow one or more particular issue very closely. They are well informed about the issue(s) and also have a very strong opinion on it/them. They tend to know more about
politics
Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...
than the average person, and, therefore,
exert more influence, because these people care so deeply about their cause(s) that they donate a lot of time and money. Therefore, politicians are unlikely be reelected by not pleasing the publics while in office.
Issue publics
Issue publics are groups of people who pay attention to one particular issue. One can be part of more than one issue public.
The term was introduced by
Philip Converse
Philip Ernest Converse (November 17, 1928 – December 30, 2014) was an American political scientist. He was a professor in political science and sociology at the University of Michigan who conducted research on public opinion, survey research, an ...
in ''
The Nature of Belief Systems in Mass Publics'' (1964). He defined it in contrast to ''mass public''.
Attentive publics
Attentive publics are groups of people who pay attention to several particular issues.
See also
*
Environmental politics
References
Politics
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