The Averaged American: Surveys, Citizens, and the Making of a Mass Public: Surveys, Citizens and the

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While one thread of The Averaged American is the increasing authority of science as the expert progressively displaces the man in the street, these studies addressed and found a large audience. All three attained best-seller status, surprising publishers and generating considerable interest in the authors, who became celebrities in their own right.

Individual Americans may have challenged aspects of each study, but their representations of the national norm resonated with a public curious and apprehensive about mass society. The concerns of the academic community are noted, but the voices of Americans as they "talk back" to the surveyors, challenging the principles of representative sampling, questioning the appropriateness of prying into private lives, and disputing the ability of outsiders to understand the nuances of the local community, are captivating.

Igo presents the public's reaction as it appeared in magazines and newspapers and in correspondence directed to the Lynds, Gallup, Roper, and Kinsey. We meet a sales representative for Squibb Pharmaceutical, concerned that he could not locate anyone who had been interviewed. Although he claimed to have no interest in being interviewed himself If you would like to authenticate using a different subscribed institution that supports Shibboleth authentication or have your own login and password to Project MUSE, click 'Authenticate'.

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Built on the Johns Hopkins University Campus. Focusing primarily on the Gallup poll which, if you didn't know, was driven by consumer marketing and advertising for most of its early "career" and the Kinsey scale, Igo convincingly shows how different groups reacted to, resisted, or accepted these seemingly authoritative statements about them.

I would have liked to see more coverage of those very communities excluded by or thought irrelevant to these measures, as well as a more detailed account of how these numbers were used in more particular and practical processes of subjectification by varying groups Jan 15, Mike Zickar rated it liked it. An interesting book that is really 3 case studies, more than a complete history of the surveying of American public. The 3 case studies are well-chosen, the Lynd's Middletown series detailed investigations of Muncie Indiana in the s and s , the Roper and Gallup mass survey efforts, and Kinsey's investigations in the sexual lives of Americans.

The Averaged American

She weaves a nice narrative through these case studies, about how these and other social science efforts got Americans to think more about the not An interesting book that is really 3 case studies, more than a complete history of the surveying of American public. She weaves a nice narrative through these case studies, about how these and other social science efforts got Americans to think more about the notion of average and normality, and how the decisions of these scientists especially regarding race helped shape and reinforce American stereotypes of themselves.

So all good and worthwhile reading. I downgraded it from a 4 to a 3, though, because at times the book is frankly boring. The author spends too much space belittling points. The amount of space devoted to letters written to Gallup or Roper complaining about their findings made the reading of this book drag a bit.

Same in other places. I felt like the point had been made in pages, no need to continue to spend space on it. So overall, a good experience but with this mixed recommendation. Jul 16, Margaret Sankey rated it liked it. Igo lays out the beginnings of national polling and statistical analysis as a social science tool and popular culture phenomenon, starting with the Lynds and their Middletown Muncie through the s and the Middletown in Transition of the Depression, as the study was discovered and embraced by the advertising industry, then moving to Gallup, Roper and the advent of political polling that guided decision making barring the election fiasco to the Kinsey reports.

Although people craved a "m Igo lays out the beginnings of national polling and statistical analysis as a social science tool and popular culture phenomenon, starting with the Lynds and their Middletown Muncie through the s and the Middletown in Transition of the Depression, as the study was discovered and embraced by the advertising industry, then moving to Gallup, Roper and the advent of political polling that guided decision making barring the election fiasco to the Kinsey reports.

Although people craved a "middle" where they could locate themselves as normal and average and identifying normal and average as whatever they were, and deviations from it as deviant , they also never really understood polling and resented not having their "votes" counted in surveys. Igo's research is strong in identifying the critiques of these studies at the time, as well as the hindsight of what affect largely white, middle-class norms had on the surveys and the popular reception at the time.

Oct 16, Bridget rated it really liked it Recommends it for: Social research actually changes society! But, just not how we would have planned it to.

The Averaged American: Surveys, Citizens, and the Making of a Mass Public

Who woulda thunk it. This book chronicles how surveys became popular during the last century, and how they actually shape how Americans view themselves "the typical American has 2. She does this by discussing Middletown, Kinsey's survey of human sexuality, and the rise of public polling.

I liked it a lot; my only complaint was the here-and-now discussion at the end was very slim - Social research actually changes society! I liked it a lot; my only complaint was the here-and-now discussion at the end was very slim -- but it was written by a historian, so perhaps that makes sense. Mar 02, Taliser rated it really liked it Shelves: This is a great look at this beginning of social science and the use of surveys in the US around the s.

Surveys, Citizens, and the Making of a Mass Public

Gives a good peak into the politics of funding, researchers personal perspective biasing research, and was a fun read. Apr 11, Thomas Stevenson rated it liked it.

I am so accustomed to surveys that I'd not given much, or any, thought to how this developed. Igo gives a nice history our growing use and reliance on this type of information. The book is not about how surveys are constructed but rather how and why their results became popular. Jul 05, Danica Midlil rated it did not like it Shelves: Topic aside, it wasn't well written.

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Her sentences went on and on only to turn back on themselves. Why do people think that nonfiction always has to sound like a monotone college professor droning on and on in lecture? Jun 06, Ian rated it really liked it.

This was an interesting book about the history of polling in the US. Not a very interesting subject matter, but if you're interested in it, it's a good book. Feb 28, John Hansen rated it liked it. A provocative idea and well-researched. However, Igo focuses a lot on the how America reached this state, rather than on the why, which would have made for a more fascinating, timely study. Feb 21, Dan rated it it was amazing Shelves: Public opinion polls prepared by George Gallup, Elmo Roper and others began appearing during the depression decade. Their newspaper columns apprized Americans of what they collectively thought about the New Deal or the troubles in Europe.

The two much anticipated reports on male and female sexual behavior by Alfred C. Kinsey and his staff appeared respectively in and The United States, like other modern, mass societies, was coming to rely on these and subsequent statistical portraits to bring its large, diverse and scattered population into focus.

The Averaged American

The influence of the new social scientific studies, Igo suggests, became manifest when they sought to represent the abstract notion of "the American people" in their samples. The authors of these studies envisioned an America that was—like themselves—white, Anglo Saxon, and Protestant. They drew up their samples accordingly.

Middletown was "a representative community more wished for than real. The city harbored an appreciable Afro American community, but its members were not included in the analysis. Similarly, pollsters were interested not in the opinions of the public but rather in those of the electorate. Their samples predicated a voting population that was far more male, white and well-to-do than the population at large. Kinsey likewise confined his published research exclusively to white subjects—whether Canadian or American.

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