Critics of workplace opinion surveys argued they could be manipulative tools

Evidence

Dietrich Goldschmidt of the Sociology Department at the University of Göttingen said, `If an industrialist has an opinion survey carried out in his factory, one could of course claim that he wants a tool to manipulate his workers with. But if one keeps the real purpose of this sort of opinion research in mind, that is to get rid of bad conditions and improve human relations, then it is obvious that the company director should be subjected to questioning as well as the workers.’ — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1937

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the Frankfurt School’s broader distrust of empirical social research as a tool of capitalist manipulation, a running theme in the Institute’s history. — connects to: Survey data on worker attitudes served management, not the workers surveyed. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 2076

Broader Connections

• Survey data on worker attitudes served management, not the workers surveyed. #expands (0.85) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 2076