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Most discussions of legitimation focus on factors that are expected to contribute to it, such as tradition, expertise, or prosperity. Less attention has been paid to "the dark side" of legitimation, which depends heavily on evading attention. A potentially informative approach is to learn from professionals with special expertise in evading attention while making things "disappear" - magicians. Rather than seeking overt control over the audience, they perform in plain view, largely by using well-timed distractions, or "misdirection." Preliminary evidence suggests that similar techniques may be widely used in political contexts, with some of the most effective forms of misdirection involving diversionary reframing - diverting attention away from any questions about existing distributions of privilege, not by brute force, but by changing the subject, especially by raising questions about the legitimacy of critics. These and related techniques clearly deserve to be the focus of additional research.

To authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-682X.2010.00344.x Byline: Margarita V. Alario (1), William R. Freudenburg (2) Abstract: Some of the best-known social scientific theories of risks are those that have been elaborated by Anthony Giddens and Ulrich Beck. Although their arguments differ greatly, they agree in seeing the technologically induced risks of today's 'Risk Society' as global-so pervasive that they transcend all socioeconomic as well as geopolitical and national boundaries. Most empirical work, however, provides greater support for a theoretical tradition exemplified by Short and Erikson. In this paper, we argue that many of the technological mega-risks described by Giddens and Beck as 'transcending' social boundaries are better described as 'Titanic risks,' referring not so much to their colossal impact as to the fact that-as was the case for the majority of the victims on the Titanic-actual risks are related to victims' socioeconomic as well as sociogeographic locations. Previous research has shown this to be the case with high-risk technologies, such as nuclear energy and weaponry, and also with localized ones, such as toxic waste disposal. This article illustrates that the same is true even for the most genuinely 'global' risks of all, namely those associated with global climate disruption. Author Affiliation: (1)University of Wisconsin, Whitewater (2)University of California, Santa Barbara

Habermas's discursive model in 'Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere' calls for political participation in the maintenance of the ecology, and proposes an increased public role to prevent environmental damages. Environmental protection should be handed over to public bodies, which through their combined efforts can prevent the harm to the ecology.

Ulrich Beck's risk society model correctly draws attention to the degree to which environmental risk has become a global political issue, but does not take into account the social asymmetries that result in disparate environmental impacts. Beck suggests that a paradigm shift has already occurred in response to global environmental risk, However, the preexisting social inequalities have not been superseded. Environmental risks instead fall disproportionately on the poor and exacerbate conflicts between the industrialized and developing nations. Responses involve either environmental engineering or broader social change toward sustainable growth.

The military regime of Brazil and Chile are known to have violated human rights and the enforcement of detrimental environmental policies. They have both remained unaccountable for the negative impact of their environmental policies. Constitutional and democratic rights and environmental protection are all unfamiliar thoughts to Brazil and Chile. Economic issues as well as environmental issues and human rights are all unavoidable moral responsibilities for developing nations.

Department of Sociology, The State University of New York at Potsdam, Potsdam, NY 13676 International Journal of Comparative Sociology Vol.34 (1993) pp.222-230 [No abstract [...]

In 2001, two important scientific groups, the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and the National Research Council, published the results of two of the most extensive (and ongoing) research projects on climatic changes. They both express scientific consensus on the fact that anthropogenically induced climatic disruptions are here to stay and that they perhaps represent the most decisive policy issue of our time. A concerted effort to distract and even attack the legitimacy and expertise over this scientific consensus has been quite effective, so much so that to this day, there is no clear federal climate policy in the making. Bill's (and my) work on "Weapons of Mass Distraction" may prove to be a handy analytic tool to understand this blunt attack on the evidence-base scientific consensus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Macrostructural analyses have long dominated the field of social theories of modernity, with the work of Habermas, Giddens, and Beck providing influential cases in point. Empirical studies, however, have raised questions about the applicability and empirical soundness of macrostructural approaches to risks, technology, and nature, and U.S.-based sociologists have offered alternative theories that have been identified in some studies as providing better predictions and explanations than the macrostructural analyses. Informed by all of the above theories, this article examines the “Atoms for Peace” program, which established the civilian uses of nuclear energy, providing one of the central scientific and technological achievements of modernity. Given the mixed results of nuclear technology development, the mid-range, structurally informed perspectives of Short and other U.S.-based sociologists do appear to provide the best interpretations, both for the “Atoms for Peace” program and for the broader legacy of the technological and environmental risks of modernity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Home to some of the tallest buildings in the world, the urban landscape of Chicago announces itself long before visitors can reach it. This first impression is presently being contradicted by the implementation of an 80 937 ha ecological restoration in the city's greater metropolitan area. Using these projects as a case-study, the objective of this analysis is to understand the integration of environmental conservation efforts into urban life, exploring the viability of a model for combining urban renewal and environmental restoration. Controversies surrounding the Cook County Forest Preserve project familiarize us with some of the difficulties encountered in the science, policy and politics of urban ecological restoration projects. Though the city's urban and environmental history provides clues to precedents and structural opportunities for restorationists, it has not eliminated the doubts of those favouring conservation. However, the case shows that, while controversy may be a burden, it need not end initiatives for urban and environmental planning. Moreover, these controversies can be opportunities for an institutional learning and policy adaption process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The environmental movement continues to stimulate democratic processes outside formal institutions. The repertoire of issues touches on science, ethics, the market place and the distribution of technological risks. A case in point is the prism of corporate interests that obscures the link of the natural environment and health to scientific and technological developments. Ecological risks, institutional organization and social distribution have become sociologically relevant variables. The configuration of a system of organized irresponsibility guarantees the application of legitimate norms that continue to perpetrate the social systems' threat, despite policy efforts to ameliorate these risks. Further eco-democratic impetus is added by the coalition among environmental, social justice and health advocacy groups. In the process, it is vital to identify the specific environmental impacts on given populations, communities and ecosystems, if a policy strategy is to be effective toward aiding a political ecological model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports that the implementation of ecosystem restoration policy is being undertaken throughout the United States. The success of this policy is often determined by the acceptability of restoration and its physical impacts on the landscape. Notwithstanding the formal scientific parameters, it has been in the political arena where the ranges of desirable ecosystem projects have been both contested and supported. Workable scientific solutions to empirical questions of urban ecosystem restoration have depended in no small measure on the democratic deliberation of reaching agreeable policy goals. To the extent that science-based environmental policy making have increasingly become woven into the fabric of democratic societies, an analytic deliberative strategy of decision making looms to be a promising component to urban ecological restoration projects. Tracking the ups and downs of these projects reveal the evolving support to the goals of urban ecosystem restoration and conservation, as much as some of the adverse impact that the initial decoupling of ecological sciences from democratic processes had in the overall implementation of this policy.

The article focuses on the environmental legislative reform program of the U.S. 104th Congress. According to the author, the expanding influence of the global economic and political institutions such as the World Trade Organization, the United Nations and the International Monetary Fund would make the political leaders to be less capable of asserting political authority to deliver their promises including environmental issues. She stresses that the 104th Congress in the 1994 election represent the most anti-environmentalist Congress.

The article discusses various reports published within the issue, including one on the concept of public participation in the cleanup of contaminated military facilities and another on the impact of the environmental movement on the promotion of environmental knowledge.

The article focuses on the environmental legacy of authoritarianism in the context of Brazil and Chile. Insufficient attention has been paid to the environmental legacy of the military regimes in South America. Notwithstanding, the ideological and repressive resources of social control enforced destructive environmental practices, which for the most part went uncontested. It is only now that the evidences clearly demonstrate how damaging the policies of the military regimes were to the environment. The authoritarian administrations became the main agent in what can appropriately be called a campaign against nature whereby human rights and environmental issues were relegated to the status of luxury, for solving internal upheavals and economic crises allegedly resulted in a scenario in which these countries could not afford to engage in democratically or environmentally informed policies. The democratization process now occurring throughout South America and the concurrent strengthening of the civil society will hopefully provide the political atmosphere necessary to expose information relevant to human rights and environmental violations, and beyond.

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including the oilsands industry in Canada, privatization of water resources across the world, and role of higher education institutions in imparting awareness of ecological sustainability.

An introduction to this issue of "Sociological Imagination" is presented.