PRIMARY GROUP INFLUENCES ON PUBLIC OPINION.

Sociologists have contended that the primary group is an important determinant of the attitudes of its members. Although this sociological principle has received wide acceptance, it has had little impact upon public opinion research. Indeed, there is reason to doubt that it is applicable to the kinds of attitudes which are studied by the public opinion analyst. The many studies which have confirmed the principle typically have been concerned with attitudes which were immediately relevant to the manifest goals of the primary group. The code of the gang, the shared attitudes of a military unit, the allegiances and loyalties of a family, all constitute sets of attitudes which must be shared by the group members if the group is to achieve its goals. It is not surprising that primary groups exert effective pressures toward conformity with attitudinal norms when the attitudes under investigation are clearly instrumental in determining the group's success or survival. But the attitudes which are studied by public opinion research are ordinarily far less obviously essential for the maintenance of the primary group. Primary groups can and do function smoothly even though the members hold varying views concerning the control of atomic energy, farm price supports, or any of a great number of public issues. In fact, it may be doubted that any large proportion of primary groups have norms concerning such issues or exert overt pressures to gain uniformity of attitude toward such issues. It is the purpose of this paper to present a theory in which primary group pressures will be seen to influence attitudes of the type studied by public opinion research.