PUBLIC AND ELITE ATTITUDES TO ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

This paper puts the environment into perspective. Politiciansand commentators see the environment as yesterday's issue, forgettingthat the core of environmental activists is still double thelevel of just five years ago. International comparisons stretchingfrom Poland to New Zealand are made, examining the public'senvironmental behavior, attitudes and values. Using Great Britainas a case study, detailed comparisons are made between the attitudesof the general public with journalists, the financial community,captains of industry, and Members of Parliament and the latterthen compared with Members of the European Parliament. The publicis demanding action by companies and by governments on environmentalissues and has little faith in either to take corrective action.     

PUBLIC ATTITUDES TOWARD DATA SHARING BY FEDERAL AGENCIES

Because of the high cost of the 1990 census and the continuedundercoverage of some population subgroups, it has been suggestedthat administrative records be used to supplement or replaceconventional census-taking activities. Very little informationexists concerning public knowledge and attitudes on this topic.The most extensive information to date comes from questionsasked on several IRS surveys of taxpayers. In late 1993 an opportunitypresented itself to add a small number of questions about datasharing to national telephone surveys conducted by the WisconsinLetters and Sciences Survey Center. Here we report on an analysisof these data.     

THE PRO-EEC CONVERSION OF GREEK PUBLIC OPINION (1981-90)

Greece became an EEC member in 1981, following a parliamentaryvote in the then New Democracy (conservative)–controlledparliament. Opinion polls indicated though that were a referendumheld at the time, membership would have been rejected, as thegovernment had lost its popular support (and lost power in thecourse of that year) and an across-the-board anti-western majorityhad emerged in a country whose people's national identity wasfirst defined during and as a defense against the crusades.Ten years later, there exists in Greece a very large consensusin favor of EEC membership which includes even the communistleft, at least programmatically. The spectacular, and unprecedentedamong Community countries, pro-EEC conversion is the subjectof this paper. First, using the European Commission's Eurobarometerand Eurodim's Helleno-barometer data, the evolution of Greekpublic opinion towards the EEC is documented. Secondly, thetrend data in the various voting groups show that this conversionis basically the result of the transformation of the socialistelectorate from anti-EEC to pro-EEC, but with a lag behind thesimilar change in the party's (PASOK) policies during its eight-yearrule (1981–9). Thirdly, evidence is provided that anti-westernismhas not died out in Greece, but that it has both mellowed andbecome ‘selective’. So, we conclude that the pro-EECconversion was not the result of some general ‘Westernization’of Greek public opinion, but the outcome of a ‘learningexperience’: during their country's ten-year EEC membership,the Greeks discovered that the benefits from this internationalcommitment far outweighed the costs. In fact, it is argued thatthe pro-EEC conversion of Greek public opinion has contributedto the mellowing of its anti-westernism: whereas the crusadeswere instrumental in cutting the Greeks from Europe, the EECappears now the vehicle of their reintegration into a worldin whose development they have historically played a major role.     

THE INFLUENCE OF GENDER ON PUBLIC ATTITUDES TOWARD HOMOSEXUAL RIGHTS IN BRITAIN

Controversy concerning the issue of homosexual rights and practiceshas intensified in Britain over the last decade. Despite thisincrease in intensity, however, the question of mass publicopinion in relation to homosexual rights and practices has receivedalmost no empirical investigation. In an effort to remedy thissituation, this article focuses on both the role of respondents'gender as well as their perceptions concerning the gender ofparticipants in a homosexual relationship (both sexes versusgay men) in distinguishing their attitudes toward the publicacceptance of homosexuals and the adoption rights of lesbiansand gay men. Using nationally representative data from the BritishSocial Attitudes Surveys, we found that, whereas both respondents'gender and the gender of participants in a homosexual relationshipdemonstrated a significant influence on attitudes toward thepublic acceptance of homosexuals, they were unrelated to theadoption rights of lesbians or gay men. Even in relation tothe public acceptance of homosexuals, however, gender was notthe only, or even the most important, attribute in distinguishingindividual opinion in this instance. Other stronger and moreconsistent influences were education, age, and attitudes towardeither pre-marital or extra-marital sexual relations. The implicationsof these findings for both policy makers and homosexual activistsare discussed.     

PUBLIC LIBRARIES AND NETWORKING:

Most of the literature on the participation of public libraries in cooperative activities deals with their expansion from local entities to multitype system. Within the framework of this evolution, topics of special interest have been: (1) appropriate units of senrice; (2) legal and political considerations; (3) stimulus of legislation; (4) role of states and state library agencies; (5) financial aspects; (6) human factors; and (7) automation in networking. The literature reviewed was vast but was deficient in comprehensive syntheses, in rigorous, large-scale evaluations of networking, and in studies focusing solely on public libraries.     

PUBLIC OPINION AS PARADOX: AUSTRALIAN ATTITUDES TO THE RATE OF IMMIGRATION AND THE RATE OF ASIAN IMMIGRATION, 1984-1990

Over the last few years, questions in the Australian polls aboutthe rate of immigration and the rate of Asian immigration havegenerated a remarkably wide range of response. While most ofthe polls conducted since 1984 suggest majority opposition tothe rate at which immigrants, including Asian immigrants, havebeen coming to Australia, other polls suggest majority support.Differences between the 1984 poll figures and some of the morerecent polls may reflect changes over time. Other polled differencesalmost certainly reflect differences in the way the questionswere worded. However, the most remarkable if least obvious causeof the difference seems to be the contexts in which the questionswere asked; more precisely, differences in the length and focusof the various questionnaires in which questions on immigrationwere embedded. Public opinion on the rate of immigration isnot only ‘soft’, it is created in the very attemptto measure it. Under these circumstances there is little pointin trying to isolate ‘majority opinion’ or in attemptingto establish which of the polls provides the most accurate reading.Where different readings are a product of differing contextsthey may be best understood in terms of competing conceptionsof what ‘public opinion’ itself is all about.     

PUBLIC LIBRARY COOPERATION AND COOPERATIVES:

This paper traces the development of interlibrary cooperation in the United States during the twentieth century. Unstructured cooperation, indicated by such activities as the National Union Catalog at the Library of Congress (1901) and the first interlibrary loan code (1917), continues today. Since World War II, structured cooperation, including regional networks, special activities, and multipurpose cwperatives, has become more prominent. A definition of library cooperation is offered, and differences between the terms system, network, and consortium are explored. Probable future develop ments in library cwperation are mentioned, including applications of computer technology and potential political benefits of multitype library cooperation.     

SECTION III: SCHOOL AND PUBLIC COOPERATION

No abstract available for this article.     

THE PUBLIC LIBRARY ASSOCIATION AND PUBLIC LIBRARY PLANNING

No abstract available for this article.     

MENTAL MAPS OF SCIENCE: KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDES AMONG CANADIAN ADULTS

This study addresses the question of the relationship betweenscientific knowledge and public attitudes toward science andtechnology. General work on cognitive schemas suggest that theseknowledge maps may have significant links to affect. A telephonesurvey of 2,000 Canadian adults was conducted and included abattery of knowledge items to test scientific cognition on basicscience concepts, to examine understanding of science processes,and to tap technological literacy. The survey also examinedattitudes toward science and scientists. Factor analysis of the attitude items resulted in two dimensions:trust in science and feelings of efficacy on science issues.A structural equation model was applied to certain demographicantecedent variables (education, exposure to science courses,age), the scientific literacy score, and to the attitude dimensionsof trust and efficacy. Findings demonstrated that scientificliteracy was positively correlated with attitudes of trust andfeelings of efficacy. These results were explained in termsof potential positive exposure to science in general in formalscience training (in schools) as well as to informal informationsources such as the media.     

MEDIA TONE AND PUBLIC OPINION: A LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF MEDIA COVERAGE AND PUBLIC OPINION ON CHANCELLOR KOHL

This study investigates the relationship between media coverageof Helmut Kohl in seven leading German print media and the opinionsof the German general public about the politician between 1975and 1984. For the content analysis evaluative assessments aboutHelmut Kohl on six different dimensions of characteristics werecoded. The analysis of public opinion is based on 72 representativesurveys in which respondents expressed their evaluations ofthe politician. The two time series were compared by means ofcross-lagged correlations. The whole period was first examinedwith aggregations of three-months-intervals; then closer attentionwas paid to the time period since Helmut Kohl took office aschancellor on the basis of monthly intervals. In both cases,the results show that evaluation shifts in the media precedesimilar evaluation shifts in public opinion with a time lagof about three to six months for the whole period of investigation,and a somewhat shorter time lag for the time of his chancellorship.Evaluation shifts in the political magazines Der Spiegel andStern were more closely related to public opinion than evaluationshifts in the national dailies.     

AN APPLICATION OF STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELING IN PUBLIC OPINION RESEARCH: CONCEPTUALIZING PUBLIC AND OPINIONS

For some time now, theorists and investigators in the fieldof public opinion have discussed how opinion, public and thecombination of the two into a single term should be conceptualized.With regard to the first concept mentioned, the difference betweenattitude and opinion has been a central focus of dispute. Thisarticle demonstrates how a structural equation model, whereopinions are included as dependent variables, and attitudes,among other relevant variables, as explanatory variables, maycontribute to the discussion. Application of such a model, whichmay be considered the reflection of an attitude and opinionsystem, again forces the researcher to conceptualize the publicinvolved.     

PARTY IDENTIFICATION AND ATTITUDES TOWARDS HOMOSEXUALS IN GREAT BRITAIN

Legislative activity and controversy concerning the issue ofhomosexual rights and practices has intensified in Britain overthe last decade. Despite this increase in intensity, however,the question of mass public opinion in relation to homosexualrights and practices has received little empirical investigation.In an effort to remedy this situation, this paper focuses onthe influence of party identification in determining publicattitudes towards homosexuals. Using data from the British SocialAttitudes Surveys, the results suggest that although party identificationexerts an independent and statistically significant effect onattitudes towards homosexuals, in all cases, however, theseeffects are both secondary and variable. Other equally, if notmore salient, determinants include: gender, education, age,occupation, and type of homosexual relationship. Of these varioussocio–demographic variables, both age and education standout as having the strongest and most consistent effect. In otherwords, at least as far as current British society is concerned,anti-homosexual views are most prevalent among both older individualsas well as the lesser educated.