Public Opinion and New Technologies. Reflections for its Analysis in Mexico

Abstract

Public opinion is a concept that refers to a social phenomenon, an empirical-professional practice and the academic-scientific observance of the two. This work seeks to reflect about certain changes in the sources of public opinion in the context of the Age of Information and Knowledge. The document emphasizes the socio-cultural changes of a technologized environment that has attracted new sources and emerging actors into the public arena, to reflect on the role of new technologies in the construction of public opinion. It is argued that technology creates new self-communication and self-reporting processes that expand the range of sources of public opinion, compared to traditional media; however in Mexico such phenomenon occurs in a section of the population with access to the Internet and the cultural capital that is needed to use it. The paper discusses the need of a particular theoretical and methodological approach to exploring this phenomenon.