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The present article discusses the value of anonymous political discussions for everyone who is interested in public opinion, researchers, politicians and journalists. Anonymity is stated to be an essential component, since a lot of disadvantages of conventional opinion polls expose rather the opinion of the masses, rather than that of the public, and are thus less relevant. Compared with a hare freezing in the spotlight, many respondents to political surveys repeat loudly expressed opinions. The authors claim that polls should be connected to moments of informing of the public, and discussing with them, following the alternative of "deliberative polling" described by Fishkin. References. O. van Zijl

From 1980 to 1982 there were many conflicts between the youth movement & the authorities in Zurich, Switzerland. A study by H. Kriesi (Die Zuricher Bewegung. Bilder, Interaktionen, Zusammenhange [The Zurich Movement: Representations, Interactions, Correlations], Campus Verlag: Frankfurt am Main, 1984) revealed three different social images held by authorities, members of the youth movement, & others concerned. Here, a replication of this study is described in which Q-sort data were collected in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, where there is a youth movement of squatters, & the social situation is comparable to that of Zurich in some respects. Rs, who included squatters, local authorities, & others, were found to hold the same social images as found in Zurich, although squatters in Amsterdam do not seem to isolate themselves as much as in Zurich, & the authorities seem to tolerate more. A subsequent exploratory factor analysis of the Q-sort data supports the findings. 4 Tables, 3 Figures, 7 References. Modified HA