Two years ago, I began a project to try to understand better the beliefs and values of the English—their “folk philosophy”—from religious views to their conceptions of the good life. But it was what I learned about the political beliefs of “ordinary” people that I found most interesting, and most significant for the development of liberal democracy.
No one who wants to advance a progressive political agenda can dismiss the values of mainstream society. Whereas elected politicians have to pay attention to what people want, intellectuals are usually, at best, uninterested. This is one reason why intellectuals and commentators rarely remain friends of governments. As the philosopher Jacques Rancière points out, the line between hatred of populism and hatred of democracy is thin, and often unwittingly transgressed.
But how can we know what people really think? We are constantly being polled, but interpreting the results is not straightforward. Sociologists have identified “doorstep opinions”: views made up on the spot by people asked about a subject they don’t usually think about. Television maverick Chris Morris provided a demonstration of this in his satirical news programme The Day Today when he asked members of the public nonsense questions like, “Soul reversal—is that a good or a bad thing?” The obliging citizen would answer, straight-faced.
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