Colonial Publishers

Early forms of self liberation could include written/printed literature. It gave people an opportunity to analyze and interpret their own thoughts and feelings instead of being told how/why to react to something. The English monarchy was fearful of the freedom books might give the people. They saw printed literature as a threat to their power. The English monarchy wanted complete control of what went into the minds of the people. Our text states that, '' this repressive restraint was in place from the beginnings of English book publishing well into the 1690s (Rodman pp.71). Well actually their is still a mild oppression of thought. The smaller society rewards personal freedom or choice of thought even to the point of holding strikes and rallies, we feel it is important to have individual voices heard, but at the top of the ladder the government and religious leaders are still interested in a conservative lifestyle. They don't go so far as to ban us from reading, but they do take part in what's allowed on our schools, as far as literature goes, there is still a quiet fear of complete freedom and the more educated people become the more power they have to think on their own. Their is still a fear of complete freewill, without governmental influence, but I think fear is a natural instinct, loss of power and hierarchic moldings in society could lead to anarchy and revolts. So some fear is beneficial to keep us in line as people, and obviously education and books are a direct way of leading people to make individual choices in every area of their lives.

Peoples choice study

After reading through the workings of the Peoples Choice study I found it very interesting that the findings lead to the conclusion, "that the main effect of the campaign was reinforcement, in that the media strengthened attitudes that were already held by the voters" (Rodman, pp.40-41). the text also talked about how the people going into the study already knew how they felt about the the political leaders and would find, even sub-consciously, external information; whether it be from social groups, individuals, print or a technological medium to reinforce their own perceptions of what they believed to be true. I think that you can take this concept and apply it to everyday life. we could look at body image, self-perception, inter/ intra-personal relationships, mass communication, world and political views or even how a person might connect a certain color or song with a specific emotion. I don't think the average person consciously seeks external energies that will lead them to constantly reinforce their being, but if we take into account the good friends we have, the choices that we have made to study a certain field, our personal methods of transportation, even the clothing we where, it becomes so certain that we could conclude in light of the idea that individually we are each creating our own smaller realities within the larger trends of society, and wouldn't it make sense that we create that reality to fit us comfortably or at least in a way that makes sense.
The research also found that the opinions of the voters changed and in a way started to reflect the opinions of those around them, but at the same time kept the personal values of the individual voters. This concept could be broken down into a social- survival skill. trying to keep the peace in a way,but it also can be seen through the lens of the Social Desirability Response Bias.A theory that explains the comfortable need of 'gelling' with the larger mass to avoid being ridiculed or judged. "Research participants are concerned with how they will be perceived and evaluated by the researcher or by other participants. As a result they sometimes respond in a socially desirable manner rather than naturally and honestly. People are hesitant to admit that they do certain things, have certain problems, or hold certain attitudes" (Leary, Behavioral Research Methods, p 99-100).