So it's been interesting to read Matthew Nisbet's Powershift report alongside the Spring issue of Sociological Quarterly, which contains a series of themed essays in a special section called, "Symposium on the Politics of Climate Change." I'll be discussing one of the pieces at length in a post that will go up tomorrow at the Climate Central blog. Meanwhile, related to all the agitation stirred up by Nisbet's report, I want to flag an excerpt in the Sociological Quarterly, from a commentary by Ohio State sociologist J. Craig Jenkins:
Many pieces of major "watershed" legislation have often incubated on the margins of the governmental policy agenda for many years before a crisis created opportunities for legislation. In most cases, these bills were part of a reform period in which a strong center/left governing coalition was able to override obstacles to major legislation. The abolition of slavery and radical reconstruction in ...
