Why and how in the time of “artificial sociality” sociologists should read a book published over 70 years ago? Gallup G., Rae S.F. The Pulse of Democracy. The Public Opinion Poll and How It Works. [Russ. ed.]

Abstract

This paper, in the form of ‘reflections on the book’, presents analysis of the Russian translation of the monograph by George Gallup and Saul F. Rae titled “The Pulse of Democracy. The Public Opinion Poll and How It Works”. It is organized in the form of an evaluation of several questions concerning studying the phenomenon of public opinion. The authors show how the monograph was reviewed by professionals during several decades in the 20th century, and what sort of value it might bear in the digital era. Their objective is to formulate basic ideas that might bring the monograph back to sociologists’ attention in a time of ‘artificial sociality”.