Reviews for Appraisal of tests to predict the environmental behaviour of chemicals

The average rating for Appraisal of tests to predict the environmental behaviour of chemicals based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2012-12-31 00:00:00 John Grace In its day, this was a fine work on ideology and politics. The thesis is that to define the range of ideological variation from liberal to conservative was too simply. The authors, using public opinion data, developed a four fold typology. The horizontal rows were labelled "For expansion of personal freedoms" versus "Against expansion of personal freedoms." The vertical columns were labelled "For government intervention in economic affairs" versus "Against government intervention in economic affairs." Given that, four separate ideological positions emerge: Liberal (for expansion of personal freedoms and for government intervention in economic affairs), Libertarian (for expansion of personal freedom and against government intervention in economic affairs), Populist (against expansion of personal freedoms and for government intervention in the economy), Conservative (against expanding freedoms and against government intervention in economic affairs). Data from 1972, 1976, and 1980 show the following: percentage of the public who were liberal ranged from 17% in 1972 to 24% in 1980; Populists began at 30% in 1972 and stood at 26% in 1980; Conservative percentage of the population ran from 18% in 1972 to 16.5% in 1980. Libertarians? 9% in 1972 and 18% in 1980--essentially doubling its share of the population. The book goes on to explore various aspects of the ideological divergences in the public. Again, in its day a fascinating book.

Review # 2 was written on 2012-11-10 00:00:00 Steve Goodsell This is a very thorough look at the prevailing hate groups and far right conspiracy theories up to the late 1980s (when the book was published). While the author's brief speculation about the coming millenium is grimly funny in hindsight, the book's "dated" nature has surprisingly little bearing on its readability. I was fascinated by the technology these groups utilized for recruitment and dissemination of information in a-- well, not technically a "pre-internet age" but certainly before what anyone now thinks of when one refers to the internet. The phone+answering machine hotlines, the subscription newsletters, the early text-only webpages that had to be progressed through one paragraph at a time. The author could never have been expected to guess how much more straightforward things would become for extremists looking for new recruits. I feel like this book exposes a history that, at least to children of the 90s, has largely faded from memory despite its incredible relevance to modern day movements. Side note: the more childish part of me does want to mention that much unintentional levity was had due to the fact that the author refers to these extremists as "haters" (as in, literal members of hate groups). This results in sentences like "nowhere was more welcoming to the haters than the Ozarks."