Social networks, public opinion, and foreign policy

This study examines the emergence of individual attitudes on foreign policy by analyzing the role of social networks---interpersonal interactions with family, friends, and co-workers---in shaping attitudes about foreign issues. Whether they clarify information about policies, disseminate news, or provide social and material benefits, social networks are an intrinsic part of people's lives. Social networks shape attitudes either by providing basic or sophisticated information about a policy, encouraging deeper learning, or by defining appropriate norms of group behavior.;Relying on original interviews with 1000 Poles and on in-depth analysis of the emergence of Euroskeptic attitudes in villages, I explore the causal linkage between networks and attitude formation and test several hypotheses about the networks' impact on molding views on two different policies, support for Polish membership in the EU and support for the country's participation in the war in Iraq.;Challenging previous studies, findings demonstrate that when social networks are introduced in the analysis of attitude formation, the explanatory power of many socioeconomic factors declines. Individual attitudes emerge, to a large extent, as a product of interpersonal and group interactions that define the policies' costs and benefits and, at times, set local trends for "appropriate" response to nationally-debated issues. Even when national consensus on a policy begins to form, individuals are still more likely to adopt the views of their local communities, albeit the process of influence is harder than in instances when local norms reinforce broader, national views.;Results also show that networks' effectiveness in shaping public opinion is largely dependent on the types of policies that dominate the national agenda. Policies with direct implications for average citizens, such as European integration, create an opportunity for extensive political discussions and critical examination of the issue. Given that such policies often create losers and winners, communities and groups may exert greater pressure on individuals to conform to specific norms. In the end, the study shows that attitude formation emerges as interplay between local and national dynamics.