Public opinion: intervening elements in its social construction

Public opinion is a subject that lends itself to analysis so that, in its interpretation, its meaning is not reduced to an indefinable and indigestible concept. Its study is of vital importance, especially at a time when its management and understanding seem to be reduced to its media dimension. For this reason, it is necessary to reassess its scope, construction, and configuration from theoretical, philosophical, media, and practical perspectives. This essay aims to elucidate the concept of public opinion by rethinking how it is shaped within its environment, how the media treat it, its status based on the groundwork laid by the four founders of communication research—Harold Lasswell, Paul Lazarsfeld, Kurt Lewin, and Carl Hovland—its private and public dimensions according to Habermas, and, finally, the position adopted by audiences in the face of events that generate public opinion from James Grunig’s pragmatic perspective. It is also worth noting that this study concludes that public opinion is a social construction that goes beyond a simple reductionist media-centered view.