The Pattern and Importance of Public Knowledge in the Nuclear Age

Thomas W. Graham
Additional contact information
Thomas W. Graham: Yale University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Journal of Conflict Resolution, 1988, vol. 32, issue 2, 319-334

Abstract: A review of 175 survey questions which measure American public awareness and knowledge of nuclear issues from 1945 through 1987 reveals important and previously undiscovered patterns. Awareness of nuclear weapons is universal amd more dominant than awareness of arms control. People are two times more knowledgeable of nuclear weapons issues than they are of arms control issues. Even though only approximately 5% of the public have detailed knowledge of arms control, many more people have functional knowledge of the subject. While the level and rate of diffusion of nuclear awareness varies greatly, there seems to be a limit to the number of people who learn of nuclear issues after they first reach the public agenda. This places limits on presidential leadership and organized public education campaigns. Despite justifiable methodological concerns with question wording, time series data and self-defined knowledge scales, much can be learned by systematically analyzing relevant public opinion data.

Date: 1988
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0022002788032002004 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:jocore:v:32:y:1988:i:2:p:319-334

DOI: 10.1177/0022002788032002004

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Journal of Conflict Resolution from Peace Science Society (International)
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().