After five decades of studying how Americans respond to public issues, Daniel Yankelovich presents a strategy to nurture the greater public wisdom necessary for modern society to confront its most wicked problems. Having been an advisor to major corporations and influential media, business and government organizations, Yankelovich is a leading public opinion expert who has had a long career studying, questioning, and reporting on national issues, trends, and opinions. Stagnant incomes, blocked social mobility, political polarization, dysfunctional educational, criminal, and health care systems and global instability plague the welfare of not only the United States, but also the entire world. By instituting a few powerful innovations we can revolutionize today's inattentive public into a thoughtful, action-oriented populous. Yankelovich shares the philosophical foundation of his successful career and revisits some of his breakthrough experiences, drawing insightful conclusions applicable to our current condition. Full of stories of how destinies can change when people abandon ingrained, unproductive thinking habits, Wicked Problems, Workable Solutions lays out a pragmatic design to reboot democracy and lead our society forward into a more promising future.
PART I: Elitism Versus Democracy 1. Introduction: America's Wicked Problems 2. Retrofitting The Plumbing Of Democracy 3. A Plea For Adaptive Sanity 4. Four Wrong Turns 5. Why We Can't Rely On Our Culture 6. Straight And Crooked Thinking 7. Caring and Stewardship 8. Elite Forms of Groupthink 9. From Martin Heidegger To Lloyd Blankfein 10.Transitioning to a Thoughtful Public - A Strategy PART II: Understanding the Public's "Learning Curve" 11. An Accidental Profession 12. Starting My Own Firm 13. Part Science ... 14. Part Circus ... 15. Smart People; Dumb Mistakes 16. New Methods Of Conducting Research 17. Research Designed For Action 18. Never Present More Than One Idea At A Time 19. Tracking The Cultural Revolution 20. A Special Brand Of Rebellion 21. Who's Afraid Of The "Generation Gap" 22. High-Risk Experiments Without A Net 23. America Tells Itself A New Story 24. The Yankelovich Monitor 25. Founding The Public Agenda 26. The Elitist Double Whammy 27. Missed Chances To Regain The Public Trust 28. Coming To Public Judgment 29. Losing the Battle With The News Media 30. How My Philosophy For Living Evolved PART III: My Philosophy For Living 31. Dinner With Quine 32. How Scientism Nearly Devoured Philosophy 33. My Wrong Map Problem 34. A Look At Existentialism 35. Finding A Better Framework 36. Applying Philosophy To Psychoanalysis 37. "Ego and Instinct" In Retrospect 38. The Mindset Of The Iron Cage: Prying It Open 39. Don't Fight Human Nature! 40. Co-Evolution 41. Culture Is Inescapable... 42. Structuring Your Own Philosophy For Living 43. Some Philosophical Tweets to Live By
