Public Opinion at the Turn of the Century

Abstract

The horizon is an arbitrary, subjective concept. It is determined, moment by moment, by the position of the observer and where he stands above sea level. What one can see depends on the means available and one's experience at observation. The same can be said of a time horizon, especially when we face, as we do now, the biggest break accessible to the naked eye, the turn of a century. (The two or three generations encompassed by a century can be retained in living memory, whereas the turn of the millennium occurring at the same time can only be an object of chronological speculation.) Measures of human or social action, the succession of generations, political errors, or peaks of popularity are undoubtedly real. Every period of time, whether measured in years or months, has its own pace and structure, its own "time." Such a measurement as a century seems quite artificial, imposed from without and bearing no relation to reality. But any social process that takes place in the real world relies on the attention, imagination, and will of people. One function of these processes is to structure time, not only time filled with actual deeds and plans but "empty" time as well. A "century" is structured by imagination, expectations, and so on—not so much practical as ideological (social or mythological) in nature. In human (public, mass) perceptions, the very events that are mythologized are the ones declared "historical": the victories, disasters, breakthroughs, intrigues, disappointments, victims, and so on give meaning to the flow of events.