David L. Sills

The environmental movement and its critics

The history and nature of the new environmental movement in the United States are reviewed. Since understanding of a social movement is enhanced by learning the views and perceptions of outsiders, the continuing debate between the environmental movement and its critics is examined. First, disagreements over the nature and the severity of the so-called environmental crisis are described. Second, the ideological differences between environmentalists and their critics are reviewed, particularly their contrasting views of man, society, nature, and economic growth. Finally, the political critique of the movement is examined, with attention given to the composition of the membership, the alleged superficiality of its proposed solutions to environmental problems, and the alleged discrimination against both poor people in the United States and the poor nations.

The Kelvin dictum and social science: an excursion into the history of an idea.

Lord Kelvins dictum on the importance of measurement in science is frequently quoted (and more frequently misquoted). One version is to be found on the facade of the University of Chicagos Social Science Research Building. An impromptu excursion into the history and uses of this inscription sheds light on the roles of measurement and quotation in scholarship.

Nuclear energy: Public controversies and the analysis of risks

Energy is a social concept, the product of social, economic, and political processes that define certain raw materials as resources and thus convert them into usable energy. Like all social concepts, energy is controversial. Out of a wide range of controversies, three are selected for analysis here: 1.(1) the relationship of nuclear power systems to nuclear weapons proliferation;2.(2) the risks of terrorism and sabotage associated with the operation of nuclear power facilities, including threats to civil liberties; and3.(3) the problems associated with the long-term management of radioactive wastes. The final section of the paper describes various modes of analyzing risks and the perception of risks. It is concluded that it may take many decades to learn whether nuclear energy is as natural a source of electrical power as wells are of drinking water, or whether nuclear energy is a horror that mankind in the 1980s or 1990s took a hard look at and then backed away.

Bernard Berelson: Behavioral scientist

Bernard Berelson (1912–1979) was trained as a librarian and wrote two important books on reading and readers, but his major contributions to the behavioral sciences were in the fields of communications research, voting studies, and population. He virtually created the term “behavioral sciences” and he was principally responsible for the establishment of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences in Stanford, California. His energy and intelligence and his belief both in the importance of behavioral empiricism and the ethical and moral dimensions of behavioral research have left an enduring legacy.