Question

What role does school, mass media, interest groups, and religious organizations have in shaping public opinion

Answer 1

QUICK ANSWER

Mass media affects public opinion by making it possible for large groups of widely dispersed people to develop collective attitudes regarding public affairs; mass media tells people what issues are important and motivates the public to action. Exposure to media activates people's convictions or causes them to form new ones. As a result, those who control the mass media have the capacity to sway public opinion.

Answer 2

Answer:

School, mass media, interest groups, and religious organizations are makers of public opinion, that is, through their doctrines, teachings or transmissions they influence the opinion of society, shaping it according to their convenience and determining the topics and themes on which society will debate and give opinions, thus generating points of collective interest, which may refer to topics that opinion makers are interested in being treated.

Thus, the news networks that belong to a business group can encourage their followers to consume a certain product manufactured by that same business group, or religions encourage their followers to attend different celebrations to obtain an economic profit.

In short, in many cases opinion makers shape the public opinion of society at their convenience.