Review of R. A. Safarov, Public Opinion and State Administration

Abstract

Public opinion may be ranked with those social phenomena that are complicated and contradictory. One cannot name a branch of social science that has not studied one or another aspect of this phenomenon. It is currently under investigation by philosophers, sociologists, and psychologists. Lawyers, too, have made their contribution to the study of public opinion. In Safarov's monograph attention is centered on the role of public opinion in state administration in developed socialist society. The author has set himself the task of defining the significance of public opinion in the complex mechanism of developing, adopting, and implementing administrative decisions, and of characterizing the manner in which it is actually identified and used in the work of administative agencies.