Book Reviews: Understanding Public Opinion. By CURTIS D. MACDOUGALL. (New York: The Macmillan Company. 1952. Pp. xii, 698. $5.00.)

• DOI: 10.1177/106591295200500450
• Author: Totton J. Anderson
• Published date: 01 December 1952
• Date: 01 December 1952
• Subject Matter: Articles

715

Two

questions

the

reader

might

raise

are

dealt

with

in

a

perfunctory

manner

by

the

author:

(1)

Why

should

it

be

necessary

to

amend

the

Constitution

in

the

manner

proposed

above

when

all

treaties

must

be

ratified

by

the

Senate?

The

author

answers

this

question

by

asserting

that

to

refuse

to

ratify

treaties

results

in

the

nation

being

stigmatized

by

the

world

at

large

as

one

unwilling

to

co-operate

in

solving

the

world’s

prob-

lems

(the

implicit

assumption

being

that

the

nation

will

not

be

so

stigmatized

if

a

Constitutional

provision

prevents

ratification),

and

further,

that

since

some

of

the

treaties

really

constitute

legislation

they

ought

properly

to

be

passed

by

both

houses

of

Congress.

(2)

Why

are

invasions

of

domestic

jurisdictions

by

United

Nations

conventions

greatly

to

be

feared

when

the

United

States

is

a

participating

nation,

leaving

aside,

for

the

moment,

the

question

of

constitutionality?

The

author

replies

that

such

invasions

threaten

the

efficiency

of

the

United

Nations

and

so

endanger

world

peace.

They

do

so

because

nations

will

not

tolerate

such

intrusions.

Tensions

will

develop,

and

international

co-operation

will

be

jeopardized.

Judge

Allen

counters

the

familiar

defense

of

far-reaching

conventions

like

that

of

the

Human

Rights

Covenant

(that

universal

action

is

neces-

sary

to

the

solution

of

universal

problems)

by

saying

that

&dquo;there

are

no

’wonder

drugs’

for

the

healing

of

nations.

True

universality

is

the

uni-

versality

of

principles

- justice,

ethics,

human

brotherhood.

Recognition

and

practice

of

these

principles

by

each

country

in

its

own

unique

field

of

experience

results

in

’diversity

within

unity.’ &dquo;

This

is

a

provocative

little

book,

even

though

the

reader

will

find

many

questions

unsatisfactorily

answered.

University

of

Wichita.

MARVIN

A.

HARDER.

Understanding

Public

Opinion.

By

CURTIS

D.

MACDOUGALL.

(New

York:

The

Macmillan

Company.

1952.

Pp.

xii,

698.

$5.00.)

It

is

characteristic

of

this

presentation

on

public

opinion

that

the

study

of

semantics

is

awarded

a

brief

two

and

one-half

pages

in

an

extended

chapter

on

language,

and

that

the

principal

topical

reference

to

politics

is

relegated

to

a

few

paragraphs

under

the

title

&dquo;professional

propagandists&dquo;!

There

is

no

pedantic

dissection

of

minutia

of

the

socio-

psychological

theory

of

attitude-formation,

for

instance,

or

of

the

tech-

niques

of

polling

opinion,

or

of

the

intricacies

of

personality

structure.

In

fact

only

a

corporal’s

guard

of

twenty-eight

footnotes

may

be

found

in

the

vast

expanse

of

672

pages

of

text,

and

only

one

of

these

carries

editorial

comment.