Abstract:

Longtitudinal and other studies covering almost 20 years suggest that traditional perceptions concerning the identity of opinion leaders in third world countries may well be wrong. Despite striking differences in wealth, income and education within these societies, it is not correct to look for leaders only among the elites. While traditional socio-economic classifications are useful in discriminating needs and opinions, they are less powerful in examining participation and activity than a simple classification based on temperament. The paper examines the application of a crude classification of this kind based on the ideas suggested by E. Noelle-Neuman's 1985 Esomar paper. The substantive material is derived from three national representative sample surveys conducted in Feb./March, April/May and August/Sept. of 1986 each with a sample of 2.000 adult respondents, and examines answers to typical public opinion survey questions.