Possible Ontologies of Public Opinion
https://doi.org/10.21453/2311-3065-2019-7-3-26-36
Abstract
The article represents the author’s approach to classification of ontologies of public opinion, formed by the intersection of possible ontological models of society and individual opinion. The ontologies of society are grouped into four types: (1) holism, (2) individualism, (3) dialectical approach, (4) ontological independence. The ontologies of individual opinion are grouped based on two major criteria: (1) the criterion of the existence of individual opinion and (2) the criterion of the existence of individual opinion in the form of several mutually exclusive opinions. The combination of these criteria is the basis for the construction of four types of ontology of individual opinion: type 0/1 (respondent may have no opinion or have one); type 1 (respondent must have some opinion, and it is always one); type 0/n (respondent may both have no opinion and have one or more, and even mutually exclusive opinions); type 1/n (respondent must have some opinion, one or more, even may have mutually exclusive opinions). The intersection of ontologies of society and opinion gives a classification consisting of 16 possible theoretical models of public opinion. The obtained classification may be a tool for further research that will help to compare the plausibility of the assumptions arising from each of the 16 ontologies, their explanatory and predictive capabilities and thus select the best theoretical models
About the Author
N. S. Babich
Federal Center of Theoretical and Applied Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
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For citations:
Babich N.S. Possible Ontologies of Public Opinion. Communicology. 2019;7(3):26-36. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.21453/2311-3065-2019-7-3-26-36
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