The same people who laughed in researchers’ faces at the mere mention of the word “government” gave thoughtful, deliberate answers to questions about public structures. For example, when asked to explain what public structures are, one respondent said: “Things that we need like the post offices and stuff that keep our country running . . . Without those things, we’d be relying on individuals to do things.” When asked how public structures are maintained, another said: “Well, obviously taxes, but also a common belief by everybody that they should be maintained. An agreement by everyone. Traffic lights are Public Structures but if everyone didn’t agree that red meant stop then they wouldn’t function . . . So I think a combination of government funding and a common belief that they are necessary.” The original text, of course, never mentioned the word “government.” Yet the public structures metaphor prompted respondents to focus on government’s less visible but no less vital role of providing and maintaining public services—in other words, of working for the common good. The idea of public structures made people less likely to personalize government as “fat cats” or “the nanny state” and more likely to frame government as a collective undertaking with shared responsibilities. The public structures concept even generated consensus on the issue of taxes, regardless of whether participants identified themselves as Republican or Democrat, conservative or liberal. Of nineteen people who read a paragraph about government services that did not contain the public structures metaphor, 75 percent expressed negative or critical views about taxes. Of fifty subjects responding to the public structures text, 4 percent expressed negative or critical views about taxes.
Posted on: Wed, 05 Mar 2014 01:06:38 +0000