Won't You Be My Neighbor? Norms of Cooperation, Public Broadcasting, and the Collective Action Problem

The logic of collective action suggests that public broadcasting stations should not receive the empirically observed level of member support they do. Why do people contribute to public television when they can view it without contributing? Copyright (c) 2009 by the Southwestern Social Science Association.

Vaccines, Calling the Shots

Diseases that were largely eradicated in the U.S. a generation ago, including whooping cough, measles, mumps, are returning, in part because nervous parents are skipping their children's shots. This takes viewers around the world to track epidemics, explore the science behind vaccinations, and shed light on the risks of opting out. The vast majority of Americans, more than 90%, vaccinate their children. Yet many people have questions about the safety of vaccines

Metaphors, stigma and the ‘Alzheimerization’ of the euthanasia debate

This paper reports the findings of an unobtrusive research inquiry investigating the possible use and misuse of Alzheimer&rsquo;s disease in public policy debate on the legalization of euthanasia. The component of the study being reported identified the problematic use of five key metaphors: the Alzheimer metaphor, which in turn was reinforced by three additional metaphors &ndash; the epidemic metaphor, the military metaphor, and the predatory thief metaphor; and the euthanasia metaphor. All metaphors were found to be morally loaded and used influentially to stigmatize Alzheimer&rsquo;s disease and mediate public opinion supporting the legalization of euthanasia as an end-of-life &lsquo;solution&rsquo; for people with the disease. It is contended that, in the interests of promoting intellectual honesty and giving proper recognition to the extraordinary complexity of the issue, the problematic use and influence of metaphoric thinking in the public debate about Alzheimer&rsquo;s disease and euthanasia needs to be made transparent, questioned and challenged.<br /