PUBLIC OPINION: KNOWLEDGE AND OBJECT OF KNOWLEDGE

The essay approaches the public opinion considering its character of knowledge and object of knowledge, using three axes of analysis. Due to this duality, its distinctive specificity must be distinguished as a kind of knowledge that crystallizes in expression the affirmations and representations of common sense. At the same time, it is necessary to analyze the character of construction that it acquires when being approached as object of study. This implies admitting that the public opinion is an expression asked by the researcher who realizes a cut on this affirmations and representations of common sense. Finally, the essay proposes to analyze the approaches that allow the study of public opinion, and warnes the risk of assimilating the methodology to the object of study.