Opinion Leader and Public Opinion. An Epistemological Reflexivity of these Concepts

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Published: Dec 31, 2016
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rmop.2016.12.002

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Carlos González-Domínguez
Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México

Abstract

We depart from the hypothesis, according to which the concepts of “opinion leader” and “public opinion“, before being analytical categories, are theoretical assumptions that, as such, present a difficulty of axiological ratification. Given these difficulties, it is of interest in the present lines to reflect on the construction of evidence around these two concepts, like processes of epistemological validities. Considering that these concepts have served as base of many investigations about the mass communication, an epistemological alertness must prevail to justify its scientific use. Having as a reflective base the concepts foucaultians of will to knowledge and will to power, as well as the phenomenological postulate of the intentionality, we will try to present some critical lines about the construction of evidence that, supposedly, account for the epistemological validity of “opinion leader” and “public opinion“. While theoretical assumptions, from these concepts, one has tried to construct the whole methodological and theoretical device that frankly presents serious difficulties of epistemological validity, when the methodological and technical processes is reviewed that contradict phenomenology itself, denying a will of power.

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How to Cite
González-Domínguez, C. (2016). Opinion Leader and Public Opinion. An Epistemological Reflexivity of these Concepts. Revista Mexicana De Opinión Pública, 1(22). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rmop.2016.12.002

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Author Biography

Carlos González-Domínguez, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México

Doctor of Communication Sciences from the University of the Sorbonne of Paris. He is currently a professor at the Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México in the degree in communication; In the master's degree in studies for peace and development; In the masters of anthropology and studies of the culture, and in the doctorate in social sciences. He has also taught at the Universidad de la Frontera, Chile. His lines of research focus on the epistemology of the social sciences and particularly vindicates rhetoric as an epistemological basis for the so-called communication sciences. Since 2009, it belongs to the Sistema Nacional de Investigadores of Mexico (SNI).

cgonzalezd@uaemex.mx

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Revista Mexicana de Opinión Pública por Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México se distribuye bajo una Licencia Creative Commons Atribución-NoComercial-SinDerivar 4.0 Internacional.
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