Public Opinion is Walter Lippmann's groundbreaking work which demonstrates how individual beliefs are swayed by stereotypes, the mass media, and political propaganda. The book opens with the notion that democracy in the age of super fast communications is obsolete. He analyses the impact of several phenomena, such as the radio and newspapers, to support his criticisms of the sociopolitical situation as it stands. He famously coins the term 'manufactured consent', for the fomenting of views which ultimately work against the interests of those who hold them. Lippmann contends that owing to the masses of information flung at the population on a daily basis, opinions regarding entire groups in society are being reduced to simple stereotypes. The actual complexity and nuance of life, Lippmann contends, is undermined by the ever-faster modes of communication appearing regularly.

Written in 1954 and published here for the first time, The Social Background of Delinquency deals with the social climate in which juvenile delinquency crops up time after time. It examines ‘bad’ behaviour among people who could otherwise be classed as ‘normal’ members of ordinary English society. It attempts to explore certain aspects of the sub-cultures within respectable society which appear to breed behaviour officially classed as ‘delinquent’. The research is based on a working-class town in the Midlands with a high proportion of miners and observes a pair of similar streets in five areas of the town. Each pair of streets containing one delinquency-free and one with a history of trouble. Not content with a mere survey, the research design is multifaceted and includes ethnographic observations, key informant interviews, personal history analyses and 'the playroom method' explicitly designed to ascertain children's views. The findings are reported here and represent a snapshot of life in the 1950s.