Public opinion
What Public opinion means in History GCSE, as defined for Pearson Edexcel.
Definitions of Public opinion
Exam boards and our study guides word this term in slightly different ways. Learn the version your board uses.
Check what you remember
Read the wording for your board, then hide it and explain Public opinion in your own words. Rough notes are fine. This is a self-check, with no mark or grade.
Reference: Pearson Edexcel
Widespread press coverage and photographic evidence of concentration camps shaped popular attitudes, highlighting the human cost of conflict and increasing civilian engagement with military affairs.
Shifting social attitudes regarding race and immigration revealed by opinion polls.
Topics that use Public opinion
- Option 12: c1700–c1900: Warfare and British society in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries - 2 The experience of war (Pearson Edexcel GCSE)
- Option 13: The historic environment - 2 Knowledge, selection and use of sources for historical enquiries (Pearson Edexcel GCSE)
Related terms
- Bias and perspective
- Civilian experience
- Cross-referencing
- Historical enquiry
- Historical evidence
- National context
- Source utility
- Statistical evidence
Using Public opinion in the exam
Check the command word and mark scheme for your exact question. After comparing your explanation with the reference, use the term in an answer on the linked topic. This practice does not predict an exam mark.
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