Abstract
Discussions about nature of public opinion have the character of theoretical dilemmas.The first dilemma refers to the question of whether public developed with the origination of modern society or if it is a phenomenon that can be seen in other (pre-modern) types of society. The second dilemma is connected with the oposition between realistic and nominalistic approaches.
A third dilemma arises from the discord between monistic a pluralistic approaches. Researchers found their activities on definitions of public opinion that could be called operational: public opinion is defined by operations which probe and measure it.