How did the precise measurement of ordinary attitudes and preferences become a near universal method for generating policy-relevant knowledge? The talk examines the rapid development and global circulation of public opinion and market research in the aftermath of World War II, and the concomitant entry of behavioral expertise into the management of democracies in disparate parts of the world. Focusing on the story of the Israel Institute of Applied Social Research – the first organization for public opinion research in the Middle East – and the transnational career of its founder and academic director, Jewish-American sociologist Louis Guttman, it explores the trials and tribulations that accompanied the introduction of this scientific practice into a new, conflict-ridden nation-state. Paying special attention to how both decision makers and laypeople interacted with the survey, the talk highlights the mixture of distrust, misunderstanding, and resignation with which it was initially received, and the ways by which surveys came to serve the political interests of local actors. In doing so, the talk rejects a “dissemination” narrative and offers instead a complex account of mediation, translation, and appropriation.

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