The cycle itself has five stages, which may vary in duration depending upon the particular issue involved, but which almost always occur in the following sequence:
1. The pre-problem stage.
This prevails when some highly undesirable social condition exists but has not yet captured much public attention, even though some experts or interest groups may already be alarmed by it. Usually, obiective conditions regarding the problem are far worse during the pre-problem stage than they are by the time the public becomes interested in it. For example, this was true of racism, poverty, and malnutrition in the United States.
2. Alarmed discovery and euphoric enthusiasm.
As a result of some dramatic series of events (like the ghetto riots in 1965 to 1967), or for other reasons, the public suddenly becomes both aware of and alarmed about the evils of a particular problem. This alarmed discovery is invariably accompanied by euphoric enthusiasm about society's ability to "solve this problem" or "do something effective" within a relatively short time. The combination of alarm and confidence results in part from the strong public pressure in America for political leaders to claim that every problem can be "solved." This outlook is rooted in the great American tradition of optimistically viewing most obstacles to social progress as external to the structure of society itself. The implication is that every obstacle can be eliminated and every problem solved without any fundamental reordering of society itself, if only we devote sufficient effort to it.In older and perhaps wiser cultures, there is an underlying sense of irony or even pessimism which springs from a widespread and often confirmed belief that many problems cannot be "solved" at all in any complete sense. Only recently has this more pessimistic view begun to develop in our culture.>
3. Realizing the cost of significant progress.
The third stage consists of a gradually spreading realization that the cost of "solving" the 40 THE PUBLIC INTEREST problem is very high indeed.Really doing so would not only take a great deal of money but would also require major sacrifices by large groups in the population. The public thus begins to realize that part of the problem results from arrangements that are providing significant benefits to someone--often to millions. For example, traffic congestion and a great deal of smog are caused by increasing automobile usage. Yet this also enhances the mobility of millions of Americans who continue to purchase more vehicles to obtain these advantages.In certain cases, technological progress can eliminate some of the undesirable results of a problem without causing any major restructuring of society or any loss of present benefits by others (except for higher money costs).In the optimistic American tradition, such a technological solution is initially assumed to be possible in the case of nearly every problem. Our most pressing social problems, however, usually involve either deliberate or unconscious exploitation of one group in society by another, or the prevention of one group from enjoying something that others want to keep for themselves. For example, most upper-middle-class whites value geographic separation from poor people and blacks. Hence any equality of access to the advantages of suburban living for the poor and for blacks cannot be achieved without some sacrifice by middle-class whites of the "benefits" of separation.The increasing recognition that there is this type of relationship between the problem and its "solution" constitutes a key part of the third stage.>
4. Gradual decline of intense public interest.
The previous stage becomes almost imperceptibly transformed into the fourth stage: a gradual decline in the intensity of public interest in the problem. As more and more people realize how difficult, and how costly to themselves, a solution to the problem would be, three reactions set in.Some people just get discouraged.Others feel positively threatened by thinking about the problem; so they suppress such thoughts. Still others become bored by the issue.Most people experience some combination of these feelings.Consequently, public desire to keep attention focused on the issue wanes. And by this time, some other issue is usually entering Stage Two; so it exerts a more novel and thus more powerful claim upon public attention.>
5. The post-problem stage.
In the final stage, an issue that has been replaced at the center of public concern moves into a prolonged limbo-a twilight realm of lesser attention or spasmodic recurrences of interest.However, the issue now has a different relation to public attention than that which prevailed in the "pre-problem" stage. one thing, during the time that interest was sharply focused on this problem, new institutions, programs, and policies may have been created to help solve it.These entities almost always persist and often have some impact even after public attention has shifted elsewhere.(후략)
앤서니 다운스의 Up and Down With Ecology 중에서 되게 길다.
1. The pre-problem stage.
This prevails when some highly undesirable social condition exists but has not yet captured much public attention, even though some experts or interest groups may already be alarmed by it. Usually, obiective conditions regarding the problem are far worse during the pre-problem stage than they are by the time the public becomes interested in it. For example, this was true of racism, poverty, and malnutrition in the United States.
2. Alarmed discovery and euphoric enthusiasm.
As a result of some dramatic series of events (like the ghetto riots in 1965 to 1967), or for other reasons, the public suddenly becomes both aware of and alarmed about the evils of a particular problem. This alarmed discovery is invariably accompanied by euphoric enthusiasm about society's ability to "solve this problem" or "do something effective" within a relatively short time. The combination of alarm and confidence results in part from the strong public pressure in America for political leaders to claim that every problem can be "solved." This outlook is rooted in the great American tradition of optimistically viewing most obstacles to social progress as external to the structure of society itself. The implication is that every obstacle can be eliminated and every problem solved without any fundamental reordering of society itself, if only we devote sufficient effort to it.In older and perhaps wiser cultures, there is an underlying sense of irony or even pessimism which springs from a widespread and often confirmed belief that many problems cannot be "solved" at all in any complete sense. Only recently has this more pessimistic view begun to develop in our culture.>
3. Realizing the cost of significant progress.
The third stage consists of a gradually spreading realization that the cost of "solving" the 40 THE PUBLIC INTEREST problem is very high indeed.Really doing so would not only take a great deal of money but would also require major sacrifices by large groups in the population. The public thus begins to realize that part of the problem results from arrangements that are providing significant benefits to someone--often to millions. For example, traffic congestion and a great deal of smog are caused by increasing automobile usage. Yet this also enhances the mobility of millions of Americans who continue to purchase more vehicles to obtain these advantages.In certain cases, technological progress can eliminate some of the undesirable results of a problem without causing any major restructuring of society or any loss of present benefits by others (except for higher money costs).In the optimistic American tradition, such a technological solution is initially assumed to be possible in the case of nearly every problem. Our most pressing social problems, however, usually involve either deliberate or unconscious exploitation of one group in society by another, or the prevention of one group from enjoying something that others want to keep for themselves. For example, most upper-middle-class whites value geographic separation from poor people and blacks. Hence any equality of access to the advantages of suburban living for the poor and for blacks cannot be achieved without some sacrifice by middle-class whites of the "benefits" of separation.The increasing recognition that there is this type of relationship between the problem and its "solution" constitutes a key part of the third stage.>
4. Gradual decline of intense public interest.
The previous stage becomes almost imperceptibly transformed into the fourth stage: a gradual decline in the intensity of public interest in the problem. As more and more people realize how difficult, and how costly to themselves, a solution to the problem would be, three reactions set in.Some people just get discouraged.Others feel positively threatened by thinking about the problem; so they suppress such thoughts. Still others become bored by the issue.Most people experience some combination of these feelings.Consequently, public desire to keep attention focused on the issue wanes. And by this time, some other issue is usually entering Stage Two; so it exerts a more novel and thus more powerful claim upon public attention.>
5. The post-problem stage.
In the final stage, an issue that has been replaced at the center of public concern moves into a prolonged limbo-a twilight realm of lesser attention or spasmodic recurrences of interest.However, the issue now has a different relation to public attention than that which prevailed in the "pre-problem" stage. one thing, during the time that interest was sharply focused on this problem, new institutions, programs, and policies may have been created to help solve it.These entities almost always persist and often have some impact even after public attention has shifted elsewhere.(후략)
앤서니 다운스의 Up and Down With Ecology 중에서
1. 개요
1972년 여름에 미국의 공공정책 및 행정학을 전문으로 하는 학자인 '앤서니 다운스'가 발표한 이론이다. 이슈관심주기 자체에는 5가지 단계가 있으며, 관련된 특정 문제에 따라 기간이 다를 수는 있지만 대부분은 이와 같은 순서로 발생을 하게 된다. 다만 위와 같은 설명은 개별 이슈 하나만을 놓고 봤을 때 이야기고, 이 이론의 진정한 의의는 각자 자신의 주기 단계를 거치는 여러 이슈들이 경쟁을 하는 과정에서 주목받는 이슈가 있는가 하면 묻히는 이슈도 있다는 것이다. 뉴스 헤드라인의 공간은 한정되어 있기 때문이다. 이러한 경쟁은 자연스럽게 일어나기도 하지만 때로는 인위적으로 발생되기도 한다. '이슈가 이슈를 덮는다' 는 말이 이를 가장 잘 설명한다.1.1. 1단계: 문제 이전 단계
일부의 전문가 집단 또는 이해 집단들이 이미 이슈에 대해 경각심을 느끼고 있을 정도로 바람직하지 않은 사회적 조건이 존재하지만, 대중의 주목을 많이 못 받는 경우가 이에 속한다.일반적으로 이러한 문제들에 관한 선입견은 문제가 발생하기 전 단계에서 대중이 관심을 가지게 될 때보다 훨씬 심각하다고 한다.1.2. 2단계:문제 발견 및 흥분 상태
극적인 일련의 사건이 터지거나, 또는 다른 이유로 대중들은 갑자기 특정 문제의 문제점에 대해 인식하고 경고하는 상태가 된다.이러한 발견들은 변함없이 비교적 짧은 시간 내에 "이 문제를 해결하시오"또는 "효과가 있는 뭔가를 하시오"는 사회에 대한 열렬한 열정을 항상 동반하게 된다.미국에서 파생된 이론이라 그런지 사회 구조 자체에 외부적인 사회적 진보를 가로막는 대부분의 장애물을 낙관적으로 바라보는 미국적 전통에 뿌리를 두고 있다는 것이다.이 의미는 모든 장애물들은 제거할 수 있고 모든 문제가 사회의 근본적인 재배치 없이도 해결될 수 있다고 보는 입장이다.[1]1.3. 3단계:진보적 가치의 실현에 따른 비용 문제 인지
세 번째 단계는 공공 이익 문제를 "해결"하는 가치가 실제로는 비용이 매우 높다는 것이 점차 확산되는 경우이다.때로는 목적을 이뤄내기 위해 엄청난 돈을 들이는 것뿐만 아니라 다수에 의한 큰 희생을 요구할 수 있다.문제와 그 "해결책" 사이에 목적을 위해 희생해야 하는 경우가 있음을 인식하는 것이 세 번째 단계의 핵심 부분을 구성하게 된다.1.4. 4단계: 대중 관심의 감소
문제에 대한 대중의 관심의 강도가 점진적으로 감소한다.점점 더 많은 사람들이 문제에 대한 해결이 얼마나 어렵고 비용이 많이 드는지를 깨닫게 되고 문제에 대한 해결책을 일반적으로는 세 가지 반응으로 나타내게 된다.그저 낙담을 하거나,문제에 대해 생각하면 위협을 받게 될 것이라고 생각하게 되면서 문제에 대한 생각을 억제하려고 하거나,그 이슈에 대해 점점 지루해하기도 한다.이 세상의 거의 모든 사람들은 이러한 감정들을 모두 경험하기도 한다.이로 인해 이슈에 초점을 맞추려는 대중의 열망은 사라지게 된다. 또 다른 문제에서 2단계가 진행되기 시작하면서 대중의 관심을 끌기 위해 더 소설적이고 강력한 주장을 하는 경우도 있다.1.5. 5단계:문제의 종말 단계
대중들의 관심이 끝난 이슈는 망각의 영역으로 이동을 하게 된다.가끔씩은 문제에 크게 중점을 두는 동안, 새로운 제도, 프로그램 및 정책이 문제를 해결하는 데 도움이 되었을 수도 있다.2. 예시
- 신천지 대구교회 코로나바이러스감염증-19 집단 감염 사건: 해당 사건이 과도하게 관심을 받으면서, 엄연히 외산 바이러스에 해당하는 코로나-19가 어떻게 발생되었는지, 어떠한 경로로 국내에 유입된 것인지에 대한 관심은 수면 아래로 가라앉게 되었다.
3. 관련문서
[1]
하지만 이는 비판도 있는데 다른 문명에서는 많은 문제들이 어떤 완전한 의미로도 "풀릴"수는 없다는 확고하고 확증된 신념 등이 존재한다고 보는 입장에서는 비판의 여지가 있다는 것이다.